Suggestion for a new overall approach

[RallyJeff]

Originally Posted by Pault

But what incentives would this actually give teams? It is J̶u̶s̶t̶ a̶s̶ more likely that the team you are helping is going to be against you as it is that they are going to be on your alliance. If I magically made everybody in New England 10x better except for my own team, we would have a much harder time, regardless of the game.

The stronger the teams, the more meaningful the competition.

If all you're after is a trophy, you can get a very fancy one at any engraving shop for way less money and effort than it takes to compete in FRC. It's having as many excellent teams as possible - and the pursuit of excellence - that makes the whole thing worthwhile.