Frank Answers Fridays - Expanded Championship

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by the programmer

So simple solution to the problem with getting people fed in time: stagger the lunch times between divisions. With the current setup, the could have Archimedes and Curie eating from 11:30 to 12:30 and Newton and Galileo eating from 12:30 to 1:30. This would work very well on Thursday and Friday but not so much on Saturday.

Possibly. FIRST is going to have to answer the even bigger question of is St. Louis capable of hosting 200 more FRC teams, 300+ more FRC volunteers, xxx more FTC teams/volunteers, xxx more FLL teams/volunteers, and xxx JRFLL teams/volunteers. I'm not talking about venue size (which is its own debate) but hotel, food, etc.

Its not incredibly easy as is but it would be interesting if FIRST had some numbers they could share regarding the St. Louis infrastructure on # of hotel rooms available and booked during the week of champs.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Its not incredibly easy as is but it would be interesting if FIRST had some numbers they could share regarding the St. Louis infrastructure on # of hotel rooms available and booked during the week of champs.

The St. Louis CVC (the agency that owns and operates the Dome and America's Center) says there are over 38,000 hotel rooms in the St. Louis area and that that exceeds the NFL's requirement of 24,500 hotel rooms to host the Super Bowl. (See Page 67)

[techtiger1]

Don't further expand the great divide that's all this would be doing in terms of FRC. The number of hotel rooms is irrelevant because you have no data on price ranges which is important because FRC students, adults and staff can only pay so much.

[JB987]

Originally Posted by techtiger1

Don't further expand the great divide that's all this would be doing in terms of FRC. The number of hotel rooms is irrelevant because you have no data on price ranges which is important because FRC students, adults and staff can only pay so much.

And "area" is undefined. Rooms within 30 miles, 60 miles, 100?

[MrTechCenter]

Originally Posted by techtiger1

Don't further expand the great divide that's all this would be doing in terms of FRC. The number of hotel rooms is irrelevant because you have no data on price ranges which is important because FRC students, adults and staff can only pay so much.

Exactly. I'm pretty sure the Four Seasons downtown is quite empty during Championships.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by techtiger1

Don't further expand the great divide that's all this would be doing in terms of FRC. The number of hotel rooms is irrelevant because you have no data on price ranges which is important because FRC students, adults and staff can only pay so much.

The downtown hotels are insanely expensive. It's much cheaper staying by the airport. And with Battlecry going to Memorial Day Weekend it enables me to drive to St. Louis again and if I have a car I can stay further outside of the greater St. Louis area and possibly find even less expensive places to stay.

[PayneTrain]

On top of rooms being not sensible for an FRC team based on price, a 1 BR King does not hold nearly as much value to an FRC team as a 1BR 2 Queen/Double. There are currently a LOT of rooms close to the venue for the 2015 event that an FRC team wouldn't grab because you can't put more students in it.