FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates

[omsahmad]

Thank you Frank.

Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence

Pacific Northwest district? Interesting. Seems like it's only Oregon + Washington, though I wouldn't think there is enough team density in those areas to get a district to themselves.

Definatly enough teams now. Teams from Idaho and Montana can also take part if they want.

Originally Posted by omsahmad

Definitely enough teams now. Teams from Idaho and Montana can also take part if they want.

I must have been mistaken! Great to hear we're getting districts here in the west! I can't wait to see the events and championships!

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence

I must have been mistaken! Great to hear we're getting districts here in the west! I can't wait to see the events and championships!

It will definitely be exciting, from the things I've seen, there are so many great teams in PNW that don't get to shine due to the traditional structure and we'll definitely see more superpowers come from that area now.

[omsahmad]

Didn't expect to have 2 district events in the city Auburn though.

[Thad House]

The only problem I see with PNW districts is that because of the 150 mile gap between Seattle and Portland, is that at both portland districts there is a potential for the same teams to be at each one of those districts, plus or minus the Corvallis teams. I hope there is a good amount of teams that intermix between the 2 areas to make the events more exciting. Otherwise the PNW dates look really good, and I'm excited.

Also even if I took away my bias from living in portland im glad the championship is here. Ive been to many of the venues that have held NW events over the years, and i've always felt the Coliseum was a better venue in terms of both seating and pit locations and mappings.

[omsahmad]

Originally Posted by sst.thad

The only problem I see with PNW districts is that because of the 150 mile gap between Seattle and Portland, is that at both portland districts there is a potential for the same teams to be at each one of those districts, plus or minus the Corvallis teams. I hope there is a good amount of teams that intermix between the 2 areas to make the events more exciting. Otherwise the PNW dates look really good, and I'm excited.

Also even if I took away my bias from living in portland im glad the championship is here. Ive been to many of the venues that have held NW events over the years, and i've always felt the Coliseum was a better venue in terms of both seating and pit locations and mappings.

Or you guys can go to one district in Oregon and one in Seattle area.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by omsahmad

Definatly enough teams now. Teams from Idaho and Montana can also take part if they want.

Would teams from Alberta be able to opt in? Right now with PNW going to districts, it's quite the trek for an Alberta team to find a second regional. (Even the PNW events are pretty far.)

[Jon236]

same for Teams from Bangor and points Downeast in Maine.....

[Chris is me]

To clarify some earlier discussion in this thread - today's blog confirms that no teams located outside of a district will be able to "opt-in" to any district. Not unexpected, but this clears up some of the confusion with the PNW region.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

To clarify some earlier discussion in this thread - today's blog confirms that no teams located outside of a district will be able to "opt-in" to any district. Not unexpected, but this clears up some of the confusion with the PNW region.

While this isn't good news for teams like 2791/20, by any means, I'm glad that FIRST is at least keeping a standard to stick to. If one area's teams can't opt-in, another area's teams can't either.

I'm excited to see the first (I think it's the first) mention of inter-district play for 2015. That is something we are all looking forward to!

[mwmac]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

To clarify some earlier discussion in this thread - today's blog confirms that no teams located outside of a district will be able to "opt-in" to any district. Not unexpected, but this clears up some of the confusion with the PNW region.

I hope First will be open to revisiting this matter in the future. The intermountain teams now have very limited options for participating in regional competitions. As of this blog post, Utah is our closest regional venue at 340 miles, followed by Sacramento (554), Denver (813) and Calgary (956). Having previously competed in Portland (431), Seattle (504) and Spokane/Cheney (414) 2122 is not averse to traveling. If the district model is the future of First, with California likely to follow soon, I wonder where that will leave teams from Alberta, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah?