(Lack of) Value in the Regional Model

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Sunshine

Really Kevin? Had you played one more match the experience would have been that much better? Really? Why don't you count practice matches? I know our team was on the field on Thursday 6 times. Enjoyed that experience.

I for one do not like the idea of playing in a HS gym. Playing in a large arena is an experience most of our students and their families will never get otherwise.

As mentioned before, be careful what you ask for. The district model is more expensive for those who move on.

For its first nine years across three venues, the Palmetto Regional was held in arenas--two primarily basketball (Colonial Center and Littlejohn Coliseum) and one primarily hockey (North Charleston Coliseum). When it moved to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in 2013, I was very skeptical of the move as other convention center regionals I'd attended hadn't had the same feel, like you state. This year, I had the privilege to work the finals as the game announcer--and lemme tell you, that crowd was hot and it had a big-time feel. A similar phenomenon happens with a good (if smaller) crowd at SCRIW, which has only ever been held in a high school gym. There's a reason an incredible dunk in a high school basketball game can still get thousands of views on YouTube--good product is good product.

The move to Myrtle Beach was also the same time that Palmetto, like so many other events in the area, jumped in team count from the 40s into the 60s (and we still have capacity problems in the region). Like Kevin, I have concerns that this is just too big for a Good Team to feel like they're having a successful, rewarding season. I'm not saying everyone needs a trophy, but you hope that a team doing the right thing and building solid machines will at least make the playoffs or snag an award here and there--having one's faith rewarded helps a lot sometimes. In the three seasons Palmetto has been this size, the seven teams in the Columbia area (two of whom started in 2014, most of whom I've got history with) have combined for zero Palmetto Regional playoff appearances and zero awards. From knowing the teams and seeing the machines, it is disconcerting that our collective not-that-blind squirrels have yet to find a single nut--especially when three of them are one-and-done teams this year and a fourth was for a couple of those years. I remark as such on the event evaluations, but I suspect the only relief we'll see on that is the day South Carolina goes to districts.

Please FIRST, keep both models and let people choose. As a consumer I like choices. I will not choose attending the high school gym. Hate the bleacher environment, FIRST is better than that.

IRI is held in a high school gymnasium. (Okay, it's an Indiana high school gymnasium...) You do not get a team to crate their robot and ship it halfway around the world, get dozens more to arm-twist school districts about a summer field trip, turn away dozens more teams on top of that, and some years get your feed on NASA TV if you aren't running a solid event, no matter how good the teams may be. I love pushing a cart into the big arena as much as the next man, but don't knock it 'til you try it.