Disney Extortion!

[Kit Gerhart]

If a team is not staying at the Disney hotels and not buying park passes, the $75 per person is a bargain. How much does it cost to build the stadiums, pit tents, etc? How much does it cost to run the busses that all teams use? How much does it cost to put on the show at the closing ceremony and do the 'wrap party'? I don't know the answer, but it is plenty. This cost of the competition site is subsidized by the hotel/park pass/meal ticket packages, and it's only fair that teams who don't buy the packages should pay their share of the cost.

From our experience, the 'cheap' Disney hotels, All Star Sports/Music/Movies are about the same price as non-Disney hotels, and they have good facilities for the students (and adults) to keep occupied in the evenings.

I guess another option to help pay for the cost of the competition site, etc. would be to raise the entry fee for Nationals. Then the package cost could be lower, and the $75/person for teams not using the package could be eliminated. The trouble with such an arrangement is that small teams would pay more of the cost per person than large teams. To me, what they are doing makes sense unless FIRST and/or Disney are making a windfall of money on the competition, which I doubt is the case. Maybe only FIRST and Disney know for sure about that.