FRC Einstein: Almost ready for primetime?

[David Brinza]

The format of Einstein this year seemed to work very well. Kudos to FIRST for doing a lot of well-deserved awards at the division-level, allowing the focus on Einstein to be a few major awards and the finals.

In prior years, long delays between matches for awards, speeches, etc. seemed to suck the energy out of the crowd. Some spectators in the stands would even nod-off (for sure, exhaustion from four long, hard days is a big factor). Einstein is the climax of the FRC season - the finals program needs to be designed keep the adrenalin flowing those last couple of hours.

The quality of Einstein matches this year kept the intensity level high (maybe the best finals ever?) The short breaks between matches were more than just fill-in. Between the matches, the "Top 10 List" played well with the crowd, as did "Crowd-A-Tron." Post-match commentary from Blair and Andy was pretty cool, too.

I think FIRST is getting Champs dialed-in for live broadcast. What's needed now is a sports TV production team to coordinate multiple camera angles, split-screen, picture-in-picture, etc of the matches. Slow-motion replays of key moments in the matches, with expert analysis would provide the audience more insight into the alliance strategies.

This year's Einstein program seemed almost ready for prime-time, live network TV broadcast. Perhaps we're just a few tweaks from getting it out to the masses. That will really make FIRST Loud!