Preparing for the Town Hall Meeting on the New Championships Format

[Rachel Lim]

Warning: very long post ahead. These are the issues I can see that will come up organized as well as I can at 11pm. (And I thought I was done with pros/cons list after build season...)

Issues FIRST tried to resolve:
Size:
There are currently about 3000 teams competing in FRC[1], and that number isn't going down. If each team went once every four years (which seems to be FIRST's goal so that every student that joined a team as a freshman and stayed got a chance to go to worlds), that would be 750 teams/year. Then there are teams that definitely going to be going more often than that (prequalified teams as well as top teams). Not to mention that the number of teams has been going up every year. An 800 team event may work for the next few years, but not forever. At some time, either champs has a smaller percentage of teams, or it splits.

Location:
Finding a location that can deal with 800+ teams is difficult, specifically:
- A building that has enough rooms for all the fields and pits
- A city that has enough hotels for all the teams (and restaurants, other activities, is easy to get to (i.e. a airport hub nearby), etc.)

Time:
AP testing starts in early May[2], so all competitions need to be ready by then. Week 7 events end in mid-April. That gives about a two week period to fit in champs / split-champs / super-regionals / other competitions.

Cost:
Many teams are already unable to get the funding to travel to champs. Having district events -> district champs -> super regionals -> champs is unrealistic in my opinion. Having super regionals replace champs may be one option--teams will get the opportunity to compete with more teams than they would otherwise, and hopefully it's closer than champs--but for teams that eventually qualify for champs, that may again be an issue.

Distance:
As I said above, doing district champs / super regionals and champs will be two events that are likely not nearby. Even for the top alliance(s) that will have to travel to another location to finish competing, more traveling = not good.

Inspiration:
FIRST wants every student to get a chance to go to champs in their 4 years in high school. It's a method to inspire them, to make them feel like they've succeeded, to let them see the best (even if just part of it), to make it easier to explain to everyone what they're spending time on, to justify to schools about time missed, and to use to help get sponsors. They're trying to aim this to as many teams as possible, which is generally the average teams that don't normally get to champs.

I'm sure they know that mentors on powerhouse teams wouldn't like this idea. But it appears that they've decided to aim this not at the top, but at the average team. Whoever is presenting needs to keep this in mind. Ideally there will be students/mentors from non-powerhouse teams to explain that they too dislike this new idea and so that FIRST understands that it's not just "top team" problem. (Or maybe it is...or a "CD problem"--it's hard to know exactly how most teams think about this)

Other possible solutions:
Splitting FLL+FTC and FRC:
Have FLL+FTC champs at one location and FRC champs at the other.

Pros:
- Deals with an expanded champs for the short term
- Allows all FRC teams to see each other (and FLL/FTC to do the same)
- Allows for a single set of winners
- Doesn't require extra traveling / time away from school
- Everyone has the opportunity to see the final matches for the competition in person
- Uses both locations that FIRST has

Cons:
- FLL/FTC can't see FRC and vice versa (counterpoint: have "outreach" teams--teams that didn't qualify / can't afford to travel / etc. display at the other event)
- FIRST can't have their 25% of teams at champs (counterpoint: see district champs / super regionals)
- Mentors/students who work with teams competing in both events will not be able to help/watch both

District champs / Super Regionals:
Have all areas convert to districts to have a smaller percentage of teams at champs, and have district champs or super regionals be the event more teams can attend (25%+)

Pros:
- Deals with the expanding size of FRC
- Gives teams who won't qualify for champs a chance to meet more teams
- Easier for those teams to get to (likely nearer)
- Already sort of exists as district champs, and a few districts could merge theirs into super regionals so it doesn't add another competition
- Both keeps a single champs and gives everyone an opportunity to compete at a higher level
- Depending at what size champs is kept to, it could leave FTC/FLL with FRC
- Could be held at multiple locations including the ones already booked
- Teams can be inspired at this level too
- Possibly even more teams can get to this than would get to champs otherwise

Cons:
- Some teams will get to champs (actual champs) very, very infrequently
- Will require more traveling for those that do qualify
- Will require teams who are not in an area that is likely to convert to districts to either travel far for two events (this one + champs) or have another way to qualify
- May still have to be combined with the previous idea to keep a champs to a size that a city can support and to a percentage of teams that can qualify so it's not just a very small elite group

Final matches for Houston vs St Louis:

Pros:
- Keeps the split champs
- Could be expanded for more areas later if needed
- Allows for FTC/FLL/FRC to be together
- Less missed school / traveling for most teams

Cons:
- Most people can't watch final matches in person (which is arguably the most inspiring part of champs)
- More missed school / traveling for those teams
- Would require another competition, another location, and more volunteers
- Extends competition season even more and starts cutting into AP / finals time
- If areas are geographical, it may end up as Canada+Michigan+east coast vs Texas+south+west coast always...

My opinion:
I'm personally in favor of both splitting FTC/FLL and FRC, as well as converting all of FRC into districts and then having district champs / super regionals as that intermediate level. Champs should be able to support 600 teams, or even possibly 700-800, which will probably work for quite a while more. Districts could either just have their own district champs, or combine with other one to get super regionals, just ideally not both.

If they're doing the second idea, they can either do several (~7?) that are just a few states together (e.g. CA+NV+AZ (+HI?), OR+WA+ID (+UT?), TX+OK+NM, LO+AR+MO+MS, etc.) or fairly large areas (west coast, east coast, south, midwest)

It would mean that most teams would get the chance to see the elite teams in their area fairly frequently and then have that to push towards, with champs being the ultimate goal for everyone. It would add more competitions, but probably not much more than what districts are already having. If there are teams willing to be "demo teams" for FLL/FTC, that could solve that issue. If the two events are already booked for different weeks, it gives the opportunity (and unfortunately this is the point that I don't know how to address properly) to travel to both, although it would be very inconvenient.

I hope this gets resolved somehow.

[1] Wikipedia
[2] College Board