pic: FIRST USA MAP

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by AGPapa

So would any future teams in Alaska have to join the PNW district? Doesn't that seem like a completely terrible idea? What schools would want to pay the costs for two trips to Washington/Oregon in a new program?

It is more than a three hour flight from Anchorage to Seattle!

I do not know for certain. FIRST certainly prefers to draw District lines by states and does not allow teams to opt in to a District. So my guess would be that yes they would be required to be a part of the PNW district.

There are lots of flights between AK and Seattle so their prices tend to be lower. My quick search showed that a flight to Seattle from Anchorage was less than half of the cost of a flight to Los Angeles. Of course there is the cost of accommodations which can vary significantly. Many of our district event locations were chosen because they are in areas that have lower hotel rates than our bigger city areas.

So it might be possible to travel to the Seattle area for 2 district events for a similar price as traveling to one Regional in another area. Yes there is definitely going to be more travel time and time away from school/work but that is balanced by aprox 3 times the number of matches.