**FIRST EMAIL**/Please give us your feedback on FIRST Announcement of 2 Championships

[grstex]

Originally Posted by DonShaw

They have expanded Worlds this year by 250 teams and diluted the event in my mind as far as competition of quality robots, yes more kids involved. Is this a money issue maybe, lets see how we can get more money by adding teams more events?

How can you say Champs was diluted this year when not a single match has been played. The total number of FRC teams grows every year. And, as has been pointed out several times, the actual percentage of teams attending Championships has been shrinking. If anything, that would mean Champs is more competitive this year than last.

As for money, the 5-tier approach you suggested adds costs too. If you assume a $5,000 fee for each level, That would mean a team hoping to go all the way would need $25,000 in registration fees alone. I'd imagine that's more than most teams would spend on an entire season.

Though I will say it brings up an interesting point. Has FIRST ever taken a team budget survey? I know this can be a touchy subject, but it would likely help guide the goal of making champs more accessible and affordable.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by grstex

Has FIRST ever taken a team budget survey?

Yes, it's actually an entry in TIMS for each team.
$22K was the average team expense in 2013

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Yes, it's actually an entry in TIMS for each team.
$22K was the average team expense in 2013

I'd love to see a distribution graph of this figure. I speculate it's heavily offset toward the low end by a large quantity of teams that attend only one event. For teams who attend championship, I imagine their annual expenses can easily reach double this number, if not more.