KC Regional Considering District Model

[CalTran]

Hate to revive an old thread, but any official word on the switch? I heard from a member of our team that the motion to a district system did pass but I'm wary to accept it as final word, since the switch conversation has sorta died out.

[Alpha Beta]

Originally Posted by CalTran

I heard from a member of our team that the motion to a district system did pass but I'm wary to accept it as final word, since the switch conversation has sorta died out.

Wasn't aware that we had taken a vote, other than one of interest in looking at options. One of the options on the table was leaving things as they are.

Part of the conversation in the meeting last month was that a nation wide district system was not a forgone conclusion, depending on which direction the new president of FIRST wanted to go. It was the direction we were going with the previous president.

I wonder if all the talk from the Pacific Northwest district thread about a nation wide system by 2017 is a reflection of that new leadership?

[runneals]

Originally Posted by Tom Ore

The school limits us to two out of state trips a year, with special permission to also go to champs if we qualify. That's the main reason we haven't gone to any off season events.

Tom, I'm just throwing this out there (and this will sound crazy), but is there a reason we don't have a regional/event in Iowa? I imagine we could easily get all the Iowa Teams, a few Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota teams to come over... I think that we could pretty easily get 60+ teams who would want to play against the Iowa power houses, that would be a stones throw away
If KC moves towards districts, this might be something for all of us Iowa teams to consider checking into. When we were in KC I was thinking to myself, "Wouldn't the State Fairgrounds Jacobson Center make a GREAT place for a regional?" Since it does sit in the crossroads of 35 & 80! haha

[runneals]

Originally Posted by Alpha Beta

Wasn't aware that we had taken a vote, other than one of interest in looking at options. One of the options on the table was leaving things as they are.

Part of the conversation in the meeting last month was that a nation wide district system was not a forgone conclusion, depending on which direction the new president of FIRST wanted to go. It was the direction we were going with the previous president.

I wonder if all the talk from the Pacific Northwest district thread about a nation wide system by 2017 is a reflection of that new leadership?

I believe that a nationwide district system would work for most teams, but not everyone. If you look at the map, states like us (Iowa) that have minimal FRC teams would have to drive aways away to district events. As it is, our 2 regionals that 967 & 525 came to are long drives 5+ hour bus rides. It's not very sustainable to have teams like ours drive to more events that are further away and get housing for longer. As I tossed out above, if KC did go to the district system, I see that as a niche for Iowa to pickup and start a regional up here to play our powerhouse teams

[Tom Ore]

Originally Posted by runneals

Tom, I'm just throwing this out there (and this will sound crazy), but is there a reason we don't have a regional/event in Iowa? I imagine we could easily get all the Iowa Teams, a few Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota teams to come over... I think that we could pretty easily get 60+ teams who would want to play against the Iowa power houses, that would be a stones throw away
If KC moves towards districts, this might be something for all of us Iowa teams to consider checking into. When we were in KC I was thinking to myself, "Wouldn't the State Fairgrounds Jacobson Center make a GREAT place for a regional?" Since it does sit in the crossroads of 35 & 80! haha

Could be a challenge once Minnesota goes to district format but I'd love to see it happen. Iowa is the home of the new FTC super regional so we have some FIRST success here - even though FRC has lagged a bit.

[runneals]

Originally Posted by Tom Ore

Could be a challenge once Minnesota goes to district format but I'd love to see it happen. Iowa is the home of the new FTC super regional so we have some FIRST success here - even though FRC has lagged a bit.

I don't know if this would be possible, but looking at the schedule from last year, it might be... Wouldn't it be cool to have a SUPER Super Regional?!? Combine our FTC super regional with an FRC regional? Again, I think that the state fairgrounds (or maybe the events complex) would be a great place for it. Thoughts?

I want to thank Aaron for describing what happened in that meeting. I wasn't able to attend but was told information would be posted on the KC FIRST website soon after. However, a month later, no word from anyone about it. I do understand that this is something that needs to be made official before anything is announced. I'm just glad I randomly stumbled on this thread.

Now about the potential move to this semi-district model. I can see the advantages as far as more qualification matches go, but I can't say I like much beyond that. KC by itself has a bunch of teams in the metro area (which is fairly sizable), but it's very sporadic once you get out of the general area. Until the number of teams increases, then I think the current regional format works until a nation-wide district system is implemented.

As it is, Hale Arena is the cheapest venue in all of FIRST. With the square footage that is available, it's an amazing deal and my favorite venue that I've ever been in for a competition (I am slightly biased ). So I'm slightly confused as to how the RPC is wanting to move to save money, yet regionals in much more expensive venues are still operating.