ChampionSplit: A Historical Perspective

[northstardon]

Originally Posted by iVanDuzer

Which is exactly why the Championsplit model as presented by FIRST is unsustainable once we get above four Championsplit events. There are currently only four cities FIRST thinks has the facilities and location to fit a 400 team event: Atlanta, St. Louis, Houston, and Detroit (with the last one including lots of travelling between buildings). We were told at the Town Hall that venues further west "didn't work out." Where does the fifth Championsplit go? If FIRST wants to keep with their 25% number, we will need a fifth Championsplit event when we hit 8000 teams.

My understanding, from what I have read and heard (after watching the Town Hall video), is that the reason why venues further west "didn't work out" wasn't because they didn't exist...it was because they were all booked out until 2020. From the town hall transcript:

Don Bossi: ...And so what I will say is in those areas in the southwestern and sort of western United States, those convention centers are actually completely booked out up until 2020 and beyond. We know, we’ve talked to everyone of them ad nauseam. We have begged, cajoled, and done anything we could to sweet talk it, but the honest to God truth is that those venues are really booked out far in advance.

Also...

Don Bossi: So again, our ideal probably would have been, I don’t know, let me say Phoenix (Steve Chism:Salt Lake actually), Salt Lake and Detroit, because they are sort of east coast, west coast, sort of north and south. There was absolutely nothing available over there so what we looked for was, I mean, what cities could accommodate our event.

There would have been no need to beg/cajole/do anything to secure a location further west if the issue was facility size, rather than availability during late April. And if Salt Lake City was considered big enough....

Colorado Convention Center, Denver: 54,300 m² of exhibition space
Phoenix Convention Center: 54,300 m²
Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis: 50,000 m2
Salt Palace, Salt Lake City: 47,800 m²
Minneapolis Convention Center: 44,100 m²....(and I'm sure that there are many others in the 40-50,000 m² range)