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

[Navid Shafa]

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.

Washington and Oregon had 156 active teams in 2013 and is projecting growth to 185-200 teams in the 2014 season.

Originally Posted by sst.thad

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.

I may not be the farthest team from the Coliseum, but it's still a drive. Even so, I couldn't think of a better venue to host it.

Originally Posted by khanh111

PNW will many more tough teams from now on. 1983 won't be alone in the top rankings at World!

After simulating the district rankings for this year, It certainly is apparent that there are many teams who would be strong competitors at champs. I'm really excited to see how PNW Champs play out!

Originally Posted by omsahmad

But you're right, Idaho has some top notch teams too. Team Tators (2122) and Alpha+ (2130) for example always perform outstandingly.

Originally Posted by Karthik

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.)

It is a bit of a bummer, I’m definitely going to miss 2122 and 2130. I also really enjoyed getting to meet 4334 in Seattle this year.

Originally Posted by Chris is me

If this is the case in some regions but not others, I think that's absolutely outrageous. We're looking to spend more money and travel more in a year because FIRST said we couldn't join the district members of our area have competed in for over two decades, but there are different rules for PNW?
What I think is more likely, sadly, is that local organizers are pushing for this rule but haven't heard a rejection of the idea from FIRST yet.

So you would have wished that others couldn't have the opportunity, just because you weren't able to...?

I understand where FIRST is coming from, but I especially feel bad for our close friends in Idaho. I hope that FIRST is able to come up with a solution to district borders soon, seeing how restrictive it is becoming.

On a less discouraging note, I am super excited to see several new events pop up in close proximity to my house! It's astounding to think how fast Washington (and Oregon) have grown!