"Louisville trying to steal robotics competition from St. Louis" Article

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Nathan Streeter

Am I the only one that's so absorbed in competing with my team for that particular program that I rarely take the time to check out what else is going on?

I don't think so. Many team members and many volunteers put so much into the program in which they earned a CMP spot, or for which they are working, that time available for even a brief look at other things is very limited. As a volunteer I need my leaders to "force" me to take breaks, or I will just keep going.

Originally Posted by Laaba 80

I thought the most interesting part was: "A decision is expected by the end of September." Do you think they will tell us as soon as the decision is made, or make us wait til championships?

I think Frank will let us know sooner rather than later. His recent track record is very good for transparency.

[Pault]

Originally Posted by Laaba 80

I thought the most interesting part was: "A decision is expected by the end of September."

Do you think they will tell us as soon as the decision is made, or make us wait til championships?

Part of me says that we will find out right away because I would think that the article wouldn't mention the end of September unless they could release a follow up article when the decision is made. Also, I'm more likely to believe this because "In Frank Merrick We Trust"

The other part of me thinks that FIRST is going to wait until they have started to finalilize things, in case something unexpected happens.

[cbale2000]

Everyone talking about Detroit has been saying how COBO Center and the attached arena would be inadequate for the championship... but has anyone considered they might be proposing Ford Field instead?

Not knowing the internal layout I'm not sure how they'd do the pits, but there is certainly more than enough room for all the fields and plenty seating for everyone.

[Chris_Ely]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

Everyone talking about Detroit has been saying how COBO Center and the attached arena would be inadequate for the championship... but has anyone considered they might be proposing Ford Field instead?

Not knowing the internal layout I'm not sure how they'd do the pits, but there is certainly more than enough room for all the fields and plenty seating for everyone.

There are numerous rooms that branch off from the tunnel, although I doubt that there is enough room for all of the pits. The tunnel is also at a steep incline.
The planned new Red Wings arena and "entertainment district" might be more viable.

[Ernst]

Originally Posted by Nemo

Having the competitions in separate buildings across the street from each other would be fine with me. If that's a way to expand the list of possible cities beyond Atlanta + St. Louis, great.

Having pits close to the fields is more important than having FRC close to FLL and FTC.

In that case, I wonder how Milwaukee would hold up?

We've got the Wisconsin Center, BMO Harris Bradley Center, US Cellular Arena, and Milwaukee Theater literally across the street from each other. I'll run through a possible pit breakdown:

-Wisconsin Center: ~190k sq ft contiguous exhibit space, 37k sq ft ballroom, 14 meeting rooms: FRC Pits and Fields
-BMO Harris Bradley Center: 18k seats: FLL Pits and Fields
-US Cellular Arena: 10k seats: FTC Pits and Fields
-Milwaukee Theater: 4k seats: Expanded Conferences

Additionally, these buildings are 2 blocks from the Public Museum and Planetarium, 3 from the Public Library, River and Riverwalk, Waterstreet, the Pabst Theater (seats 1300) and Repertory Theater (Seats 700).

Within a few blocks there is a DoubleTree, Hapton Inn & Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Ramada, Hilton, and Hyatt.

It's walking distance from Marquette University and MSOE.

(This might be a bit of a stretch)

[IndySam]

If you don't have at least 500,000 square feet of usable exhibition space, forget it and if you are planning for any growth you better have 750,000.

And I'm not talking meeting rooms but open exhibition space.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by IndySam

If you don't have at least 500,000 square feet of usable exhibition space, forget it and if you are planning for any growth you better have 750,000.

And I'm not talking meeting rooms but open exhibition space.

If people dont mind not having an Arena but just a convention center, than Orlando would be the perfect option. The Orange County Convention Center is the largest convention center by square footage in America; and its in Orlando which has TONS of restaurants/hotels/amusement parks. Heck, Seaworld and Aquatica are less than 1/2 a mile away.

[GaryVoshol]

Maybe this is off topic. But I find it rather interesting that arguments against the district system often say, "But you're just in a gym with bleacher seats." Yet temporary bleacher seating in a convention hall is what is being proposed for several of these potential CMP venues. Is it just me, or is there a disconnect there?

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Maybe this is off topic. But I find it rather interesting that arguments against the district system often say, "But you're just in a gym with bleacher seats." Yet temporary bleacher seating in a convention hall is what is being proposed for several of these potential CMP venues. Is it just me, or is there a disconnect there?

I don't think there is much of a cross-section between detractors of the district system and detractors of roll-in bleacher seating. Then again, the argument against districts has dissolved over the last 2-3 years.

The biggest thing against most of these venues is FIRST requires a lot of exhibition floor space just to maintain its current size, not even mentioning the restricted potential for growth. St Louis is really nice and close together, but the large number of meeting rooms available in America's Center are almost of no use to the purpose of progressively expanding the scope of championship to support the corresponding expansion of team and event counts at all levels.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Laaba 80

I thought the most interesting part was: "A decision is expected by the end of September."

Do you think they will tell us as soon as the decision is made, or make us wait til championships?

For what it's worth, when the decision to move to St. Louis was made in 2009, I think Dean Kamen announced it in the fall at some public event. We knew well before the 2010 season started where the 2011 Championship would be.

Personally, St. Louis has gotten better but I'd prefer somewhere that I would feel safer walking around outside. Preferably without the constant semi-rational fear of tornadoes, but I can accept if that is an inevitability.

[efoote868]

If the Championship event moves to Indianapolis, there will be some debate as to whether IRI is the premiere Indiana Robotics event those years.

[who716]

I am only familiar with St. louis As we went there 2012 but based on all the stories and infromation presented to me about Atlanta, i would love too see it there, Indianapols would also be a nice spot to host the championship i belive.

[Phalanx]

I'm familiar with both Atlanta and St. Louis, having competed and volunteered at both places I've formed my own personal opinions on those two.

Atlanta does have a large airport easy to get to, with lots of flights in/out.

St. Louis airport is smaller with fewer flights in/out, but, is much cheaper to fly to than Atlanta, and I'm on the east coast. Flight time is pretty much the same. St. Louis is also more a "central" location for all teams.

Atlanta is far more expensive for hotels, food, and even air fare compared to St. Louis. Although prices have been going up steadily in St. Louis.

In Atlanta, I don't like the walk between the convention center Pits and the Dome for competition. It takes a good 10 minutes to walk it. If you have a short window between matches you can't get back to the pits for repairs, or even to send a runner for supplies. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but, aren't they planning on tearing down the existing Georgia Dome?

In St Louis, the walk between the convention center pit area and the dome for competition was under 5 minutes. Plenty of time to send a runner or get back & forth in a short window.

When it comes to safety out on the street both Atlanta and St. Louis have their issues. Pretty much any city does. Use common sense, stay in groups. And btw, both cities have the local police "clean out" the vagrants prior to our arrival. Try experiencing each those cities when that doesn't happen, and it's VERY different.

I can't compare the other suggested event venues as I've not been to any of them to compare, but, if it was my choice, I'd choose St. Louis, hands down.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Phalanx

Atlanta does have a large airport easy to get to, with lots of flights in/out.

St. Louis airport is smaller with fewer flights in/out, but, is much cheaper to fly to than Atlanta, and I'm on the east coast. Flight time is pretty much the same. St. Louis is also more a "central" location for all teams.

Atlanta is far more expensive for hotels, food, and even air fare compared to St. Louis. Although prices have been going up steadily in St. Louis.

I have paid nearly double in airfare flying to St. Louis vs Atlanta. Being the biggest Delta hub in the world, it was both easy to find a pair of flights to Atlanta and didn't cost a fortune. St. Louis has always been more expensive for me. I'll do some research after this exam and see if that's changed recently; maybe Atlanta got more expensive or is harder to move 40 students at a time through or something. No comment on hotels though.

[Ryan Dognaux]

Am I the only one who hasn't ever had any issues with downtown St. Louis? Walked around the dome and a few blocks from it multiple times both early in the morning & well late into the night to get back to my car and didn't have any problems with people. That's not to say there aren't some shady looking people hanging out sometimes but they've never bothered me. I think you'll have that in every major city though, even Indianapolis or Louisville.