Current Districts Map. Who is next?

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by DareDad

The two Minneapolis regionals are hosted on the U of M campus. During the regionals there are continuous tours of campus departments which has led to a measurable uptick in students attending the U of M College of Science and Engineering.

That level of involvement with the school would be difficult in a district model where participation from the U of M would likely be a kid behind a 2'x6' table with some pamphlets.

I wouldn't go that far. I think it's highly likely that the U of M would be doing everything possible to host the District Championship at that point, which, as a 3 day event, would give them the same impact they have today. This assumption, however, hinges on two rather important points. First, that the U of M can get us into the schedule every year on week 7. With a regional model, it's a lot easier as we can easily move around a bit - week 5 vs week 6 doesn't make much of a difference. Second, we have to assume that we could fit a form of district championship into the U of M facilities. If it's just 60 teams, that's easy. If it's more, it becomes significantly harder. If we need to do it like Michigan with 2 fields, it would need to be split into two separate events like the double regional now, or moved to a different facility where we could fit 120 teams and 2 fields under the same roof (like the DECC).

But however things end up shaking out in the coming years, I think it's safe to say that both FIRST and the U of M are interested in maintaining and strengthening our relationship.