District vs Regional

[SciBorg Dave]

As team 4061 looks forward to the Pacific Northwest District Championship, I wonder what the teams think of the district model.
For me
+ get to play a lot of matches for little money
- miss many of the teams from Idaho and Montana
+ like out of bag time before a district
- short time to prepare for worlds if we make the cut
What other ideas are out there?

[mizscience]

How exactly does the district model work? Could someone explain it briefly?

[AustinH]

Smaller venues, fewer teams, shorter events, but you get two events instead of one for the initial registration cost, with a third event costing only $1,000 more. You accumulate points at the district events (and 3x at the district championships) instead of qualifying on the spot for the world championships.

[cgmv123]

A couple things I don't like about the districts are that District RAS, EI and Chairman's don't get to compete with their robots at District Championship, but do get to take their robots to the FIRST Championship if they advance from their district championship via award.

I feel like advancement between districts and district championship should be just like advancement between regionals and the FIRST Championship, with points used to fill extra slots.

I also don't like that the district championship costs an extra $4000 entry fee, especially since all that money (apparently) goes to Manchester and not towards the cost of running the event.

Short qualification windows between the district championships and the FIRST Championship may mean that not all teams that qualify may not be able to attend the FIRST Championship.

Otherwise, I'm generally happy with what I've heard about the district system. I'm sad that I'll only be able to (potentially) participate as a mentor/volunteer.

[Jay O'Donnell]

The short amount of time between week 6 events and NE Champs and then the short amount of time between NE Champs and St. Louis is horrible. We're lucky enough to be a Chairman's winning team, but everyone else won't know if they qualify for NE Champs until Saturday, four days before NE Champs. How are they all supposed to coordinate getting absences excused, work taken off, rides coordinated, and hotels coordinated (if needed) in less than 4 days, along with getting ready for the competition itself? And then if you qualify for St. Louis, you have about a week to prepare for a large trip probably involving flying and hotels, missing three days of school, and shipping your robot. It's absolutely ridiculous. I feel bad for the teams who are on the border of making it to NE Champs right now, because they are going to have a rough four days of preparation.

[who716]

More money needed to make it to championships

[Link07]

Originally Posted by Jay O'Donnell

The short amount of time between week 6 events and NE Champs and then the short amount of time between NE Champs and St. Louis is horrible. We're luck enough to be a Chairman's winning team, but everyone else won't know if they qualify for NE Champs until Saturday, four days before NE Champs. How are they all supposed to coordinate getting absences excused, work taken off, rides coordinated, and hotels coordinated (if needed) in less than 4 days, along with getting ready for the competition itself.

MAR sort of fixed that problem this year by having the last district event in Week 5. Larger districts that run on venues with tighter schedules obviously don't have this luxury.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Jay O'Donnell

How are they all supposed to coordinate getting absences excused, work taken off, rides coordinated, and hotels coordinated (if needed) in less than 4 days, along with getting ready for the competition itself.

Why would you wait until the last minute to do it? Take care of things ahead of time and plan to attend regardless. It's a lot easier to cancel the plans if you don't qualify.

[PVCpirate]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Why would you wait until the last minute to do it? Take care of things ahead of time and plan to attend regardless. It's a lot easier to cancel the plans if you don't qualify.

While this is good advice, it doesn't automatically solve all the problems. Airlines and hotels can have cancellation fees. School districts can be uncooperative relating to missing school on short notice. Missing Thursday-Friday for DCMP, then missing Wednesday-Thursday-Friday for CMP is hard on any student/employee. One team in New England attended 2 Thursday-Friday events, and likely missed 5 days of school in 2 weeks. If they had qualifed for DCMP, that's another 2 days, and CMP would add 3 more, for a total of 10 missed school days for the season. Looking at money, it now costs a minimum of $13,000 to go to CMP(up from $9,000 in regionals) plus travel.

[AustinH]

If I remember correctly, the justification I heard for the increased cost ($13,000 vs $9,000) was that *on average* the teams that attend Championships originally were attending at least two regionals. I would love to see the data behind that. 13K is a lot.

[Chris_Ely]

Originally Posted by AustinH

If I remember correctly, the justification I heard for the increased cost ($13,000 vs $9,000) was that *on average* the teams that attend Championships originally were attending at least two regionals. I would love to see the data behind that. 13K is a lot.

You are also guaranteed at least 24 matches (12/district), which for a team that doesn't make worlds, is a lot better value.

[AustinH]

No doubt. I love the value of district play, especially the $1,000 for the third event.

[PVCpirate]

Originally Posted by AustinH

If I remember correctly, the justification I heard for the increased cost ($13,000 vs $9,000) was that *on average* the teams that attend Championships originally were attending at least two regionals. I would love to see the data behind that. 13K is a lot.

Last season, about 29% of regional-only teams attended 2 regionals. Anyway, the argument you just cited is circular logic: Teams that only go to one regional are more likely to be unable to attend CMP if they qualify(I would think). Those teams don't go, and the slots are filled by teams who can go, many of which go to multiple regionals.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by AustinH

If I remember correctly, the justification I heard for the increased cost ($13,000 vs $9,000) was that *on average* the teams that attend Championships originally were attending at least two regionals. I would love to see the data behind that. 13K is a lot.

I am not sure what you mean by an increased cost?

I guess if you are speaking of going to CMP after attending only one regional the registration cost would be $10,000 total (assuming you are not speaking of rookie teams)

$5000 registration and $5000 for CMP

The cost for attending 2 regionals is $9000 and this is what it costs to do 2 district plays and the District Championship.

Of course if you qualify for CMP at District Championship the amount goes to $14000 with the registration for CMP.

I agree that this is a great deal of money....I just am not sure what you mean by the increased cost?

In Districts we get 2 district events for the price that any other team has to pay for their first Regional event.

I guess I can see how it would cost $9000 to just get to the District CMP where you could qualify for CMP ... and in the past you could qualify at a single Regional event...for $5000

Is this what you mean?

I don't have the data on CMP and the average number of regionals that are attended by the participants... I could not find it here on CD I think it is here somewhere.

I would imagine that the average number is pretty close to 2.... a number of teams do 3 and all District teams do at least 3....to get there...

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by PVCpirate

Airlines and hotels can have cancellation fees.

I was addressing the 4-day scramble for a district championship. I really doubt airline flights would enter into that.

School districts can be uncooperative relating to missing school on short notice.

Thus my advice to plan farther in advance, so the notice isn't so short.