Future First Championship News

[MrTechCenter]

I was right. I said FIRST would go back to Houston and they laughed at me...but I was right...

But in all seriousness, this really doesn't make sense. I would totally get it if FIRST split up FRC, FTC, and FLL and had FTC/FLL at a separate World Championship just for the sake of space, but why split all of the programs?

Also, it seems pretty strange to me that they're using different venues for everything in Houston. It's probably because of conflicts with the NBA and MLB seasons which makes sense but that's a lot of juggling.

And it also seems backwards to have the pits at Ford Field in Detroit and the matches in the Cobo center. Should be the other way around.

[Alyssa]

"There's plenty of room on the top for everyone" ... it's not a top if everyone is there.

[WillRobinson]

Originally Posted by alyssa2485

"There's plenty of room on the top for everyone" ... it's not a top if everyone is there.

Great comment! Recommended as quote.

[ASmith1675]

The locations selected do see odd if the goal was to ease travel concerns. Flying to Houston or Detroit is probably a bit easier than to St Louis, but its definitely not any easier to drive to either of those locations from the coast.

Participating with teams that haven't moved to districts yet, its been a bit sad to see fewer and fewer teams from outside the state come to regional competitions. We used to see a good number of teams from Michigan at the Wisconsin and Midwest regionals, and now with Indiana in districts we no longer see friends from that state either. This is an understandable result of the district system, and I had hoped that we might begin to see inter-district play as the standard to allow some of those truly inspiring teams to spread their message beyond their state borders.

I am concerned that this change to the Championship event will further limit the cross-pollination of teams that many rarely get the chance to see in person. It seems like they want to create an east and west super-district. While I can see the logic in getting as many team as possible to experience the championship event, how would it feel if you couldn't see your favorite robot in person because of geography. West coast teams would likely never see 1114, and those on the east would never see 254. Sad for all involved.

I suppose its a good problem to have overall that the program has grown to this point. I just hope there is a better solution than to directly divide the country as it seems has been proposed.

[Sperkowsky]

if they really want to be more accessible they should do an east west format.

So think of it like this.

Have east championships for everything east of the mississippi and west championships for everything west of the mississippi. International teams could choose which one they attend.

Then have the world championships in st.louis with only 1 half of each teams from each divisional.

Its more expensive for the really good teams but they most likely have the funds to do both where as it is much cheaper for the bottom half teams.

[MikLast]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

if they really want to be more accessible they should do an east west format.

So think of it like this.

Have east championships for everything east of the mississippi and west championships for everything west of the mississippi. International teams could choose which one they attend.

Then have the world championships in st.louis with only 1 half of each teams from each divisional.

Its more expensive for the really good teams but they most likely have the funds to do both where as it is much cheaper for the bottom half teams.

Would this replace DCMPs in any area? i like this idea either way.

[Denise Bohnsack]

GROWING PAINS:
FIRST Programs are growing. This is wonderful. There is not a city which can handle the championship as it currently set up. All of us need to understand this. I appreciate the efforts to address the situation.

I believe many worthy teams cannot afford to attend a regional, a super regional, and finally, a championship in FRC, as it is often suggested.

It may be too late, but here are a two possible solutions to consider.

1. Have the FLL and FTC Championships at one location/city and the FRC Championship at another. This would free up space and hotel rooms.

2. Have the FLL and FTC Championships one weekend and the FRC Championship in the days and weekend following in the same city. (All groups will not all be there at once.) Lengthening the event and spreading out the use of hotel rooms and facilities.

These ideas may have already been evaluated, and certainly will have other problems associated with them, but perhaps they are worth giving additional consideration.

Thank you for trying to come up with a solution which benefits all parties and provides more students with FIRST opportunities. It is a difficult task,understandably. I am confident it will all work out eventually. Best wishes to all!!

[Aidan H.]

I think a small point to consider about FTC and FLL is that having them in the same place (or city) helps to "engulf" them in the incredible Champs experience. I would think (my own personal opinion) that FIRST did not like switching to the 600 team model for this year and next year because is forced FTC and FLL to other places, meaning they didn't get the same immersion they used to.
Even though recently there has been few FTC and FLL teams at Champs (compared to FRC), they are still giant programs (though not as big as FRC) that are growing at very fast rates. FIRST really doesn't want (my personal opinion) to forget about them.
CD is almost entirely current FRC participants (some FTC or dual) and it seems most of the opinions about this change reflect an FRC-centric mindset. I would think (my opinion) that FIRST wants FTC and FLL to have more significance at Champs, and 2 Champs probably doesn't mean too much to an FTC or FLL team (but to an FRC team...).

I agree with many that this decision is ripping the "C" out of FRC, demolishing what most of the inspiration for FRC has been built on for the past 25 or so years (pursuit of being the grand winner). It started with a competition, and everyone loves a competition. Add in some robotics, community outreach aspects, and GP awards, and you have inspiration FOR more than just winning, you are inspiring pursuit of science and technology (I would say a much more noble cause than a sport's pursuit of just winning). The problem is that with two Champs, the basic concept of a competition has been eliminated. What are we really playing for?
I have noticed from my time in FIRST that many people are hooked into the competition, because of the nature of it: it's a competition! But then people realize that there is much more: inspiration, mentorship, ect. But after you have found the "more", do you still need the competition? I would say that question is what polarizes the debate.
I would say many people still need the competition; it's what drives them to succeed, keeps you working in the shop, keeps mentors coming back each day. You realize there is more to it, and FIRST has done a great job making sure everyone realizes those aspects, but at the end of the day, this is the FIRST Robotics Competition, and that's what many people love about it.

Sidenote: Sorry, I was thinking about the FTC/FLL aspect, and wanted to add that point in, and then meandered into adding my $0.02.

[runneals]

Originally Posted by JohnFogarty

I'm confused why they aren't implementing super regional events like FTC does. 2 WC events is going to be harmful to the overall quality of this program.

EXACTLY my thinking John! The FTC North SR was super amazing and fun. Why don't they have 4 "Super-Regional Events" (north, south, east, west) that incorporate all the programs (like champs does) to replace champs? This would make the most sense, as it would bring in teams that are more local to the area and reduce travel significantly (I think almost all of our teams drove to the North SR). I could see something really cool like this happening (allowing for quite a few more of the top-notch teams from each state/regional to advance further, and then invite like the winner/finalist to Manchester (or around there) for a "World Championship" type event. I think this would be quite a bit more intimate for the teams advancing to Worlds, but I think it would be cool to get FIRST back to it's roots.

EDIT: Also worth noting that the FTC Super Regionals most likely won't move, as they have secured sponsors who would probably prefer them to not move. Plus gracious sponsors like Rockwell Collins/John Deere/etc brings a lot of people to help out at events.

Also, for those who were complaining about cost... FTC SR only costs $500/team. Is there a reason why we can't get pricing down to this for teams? Maybe find more event sponsors who will underwrite/sponsor the venue?

[Thad House]

This makes no sense. The biggest groups of teams are spread from minnesota to NE, and then on the West Coast. Why put an event in Texas, which is much further away. If you are going to add a second champs, put it west of the rockies somewhere. That way you actually save teams money. Or just keep 1 championship event...

[BBray_T1296]

This poses some interesting questions. Will one championship event be "better" to attend than the other? If one of the main points is to reduce travel costs, it is an easy statement that any teams from Texas who qualify for Worlds will go to the Houston CMP, while anyone from Canada or FiM will probably find themselves in Detroit. I feel like this could produce an OPR discrepency. Perhaps this could be leveled by the divvying of teams such as MAR and West Coast teams whose costs may be similar between both events.

Also, will there be a "grand champion" matchup where the Houston champion and STL/Detroit champion alliances face off for an ultimate crown?

I feel like this division sets a precedent for future-proofing the whole competition organization. Sudden increase in teams in Europe? Put a CMP there. Number of teams on the West Coast quadruple? Put a CMP there. It is possible that this introduces another tier of competition where, like all the districts feed their district champs, those district champs feed poly-district champs, which ultimately feed another, higher WCMP level.

[JohnFogarty]

The location choices are lnteresting. not sure it's going to save my team any money. Both Houston and Detriot are out of the question in terms of driving distance from SC. I miss having the championship in my backyard.

[cgmv123]

http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/2017-...p-announcement

Future FIRST Championship Q&A

Where and when will the FIRST Championship be held in the coming years?

2015: St. Louis, MO: April 22-25, 2015

2016: St. Louis, MO: April 27-30, 2016

2017: Houston, TX: April 19-22, 2017

St. Louis, MO: April 26-29, 2017

2018: Houston, TX: April 18-21, 2018

Detroit, MI: April 25-28, 2018

2019: Houston, TX: April 17-20, 2019

Detroit, MI: April 24-27, 2019

2020: Houston, TX: April 15-18, 2020

Detroit, MI: April 29- May 2, 2020

Why is FIRST holding multiple Championships?

FIRST knows how transformative the FIRST Championship experience can be for students (and for Coaches, Mentors, Volunteers, Sponsors, etc.) and we want more kids to feel the passion and power that comes with being a part of a FIRST Championship.

By expanding to multiple cities for Championship, our goal is to grow capacity and enable more young people, across all of our full Progression of Programs, to experience the thrill of the FIRST Championship.

In addition, by hosting the Championship events in two separate cities, we seek to reduce the travel distances and associated travel expenses for a significant number of teams.

Which Championship will my team attend? Can we go to both?

While FIRST appreciates teams’ enthusiasm for attending either or both Championship celebrations, our goal is to enable as many teams and students as possible to experience a FIRST Championship. Based on geographic location, teams from all four programs will be assigned to attend one of the events.

Each Championship will serve a still-to-be-defined geographic region in an effort to minimize travel distance and travel cost, while balancing team attendance at both events.

Will there now be two sets of Championship Awards and recognition?

Our most prestigious honors, such as the FIRST Robotics Competition Chairman’s Award; FIRST Tech Challenge Inspire Award; FIRST LEGO League Champion’s Award, the Dean’s List Award and other top honors, will be replicated and celebrated at each event - while the FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award and the FIRST Future Innovator Award (for FRC and FTC) will be given outside of the events. Finalists for these two awards will be announced at both events.

I support multiple teams across various FIRST Programs. Will they all be going to the same Championship?

In addition to qualification based on performance or ranking, FIRST will determine what teams attend which event based on geographical location of the team and by balancing team capacity at both events. Hence, it is highly likely that the geography for FTC teams at a given Championship will align with the geographies for FLL and FRC teams at the same event. However, we are still in the process of determining those geographic alignments for each Championship.

For the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Program, how will the new Championship model impact the four FTC Super Regionals?

FIRST is working out all of the details and options associated with the continued high growth of the FTC program. We will review capacity at both the Super Regionals and the Championship level before making a final decision. FTC expects accelerated growth in the coming years with the recently announced Android™ based, Qualcomm powered communications and control platform. The new system will be demonstrated at the FIRST Championship in St. Louis, April 22-25, 2015

What activities will be happening in each of the venues in each of the Championship host cities?

In 2015 and 2016, FIRST will host an expanded Olympic-style Championship throughout downtown St. Louis. In 2017, the St. Louis Championship will be similarly sized to the 2014 Championship held there

For the Houston Championship, Opening Ceremonies will be held in the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets. Competition matches for all programs will be held in the George R. Brown Convention Center, followed by Closing Ceremonies in Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, which has a retractable roof.

For the Detroit Championship, Opening and Closing Ceremonies will be held in Ford Field, an enclosed domed stadium, which is home to the Detroit Lions. Competition matches for all programs will be held in Cobo Center.

Each city has been chosen with our visitors in mind and each location – St. Louis, Houston, and Detroit has many opportunities for outdoor and recreational activities, as well as arts and cultural experiences, and simply sightseeing. We invite you to watch for detailed descriptions on the FIRST website as the dates come closer.

In the meantime, take a look at the tourist attractions as detailed on each of these visitor websites:
http://explorestlouis.com/visit-expl...o-in-st-louis/
http://www.visitdetroit.com/
http://www.visithoustontexas.com/things-to-do/

We realize this is only a small subset of the questions you might have. As we move forward, we welcome your questions and suggestions, and will keep you informed as more details become available. Please send your questions to customerservice@usfirst.org.

[Pauline Tasci]

I think this take's a lot away from what Champs is all about. Your competing with the best of the best in the entire world in one place. You get to meet with thousands of people who love FIRST the same way you do, you get to meet your friends from different coasts and trade shirts, you have the ability to be the WORLD champions, and get to see those robots that have been winning all their events. Splitting it into 2 different champs would eliminate all of that.
There would be no world champions, you would never meet your favorite team on the other side of the world, the competition would go down severely.
This just does not seem like a good idea and I would LOVE to hear the discussion when they decided this was a good idea.

Because right now I believe the cons are out weighing the pros.

[JohnSchneider]

It says in the release that teams are region locked. How is geographically restricting teams fostering exchange of ideas between teams from different states or even countries.

Now when my students want to go study and look at an 1114 or 254 robot they may never get the chance? Ridiculous.