[FRC Blog] Pit Set-Up and Trophies

[EricH]

Originally Posted by thatprogrammer

While I'm excited for the ability to set up pits on wed, I'm really sad to hear that we won't be getting 2 trophies to give to sponsors any more. I can't help but feel that there are ways FIRST could reduce the cost of trophies without this solution.*
*Perhaps a redesign of the trophy?
I'm not an expert on cash flow in FIRST, so maybe I'm just mistaken.

They've already shrunk the size of the trophies once [cue massive complaints] and removed participation medals from the equation (for participation pins in the KOP).

Also, I'm willing to bet that most sponsors have more wall space than trophy case space, which makes a plaque a tad easier to handle.


Here's the thing: All those trophies have to ride the semi for all the events that truck is covering. So on top of the cost of the trophy itself, you have to include the cost of transporting it to up to 5 (6?) events before the one it's supposed to leave the truck at. And the trophies can be rather bulky and awkward. So if there's a plaque instead of a trophy... I suspect I can stack 6 events worth of plaques into a space previously occupied by 2-3 events worth of trophies (or smaller). Means more space for other important items.

[Nathan Streeter]

In my opinion, the pit setup change is very good and long overdue (although irrelevant to our team in districts) and the trophy/plaque change is reasonable. I'd prefer that they make the second trophy a plaque than they shrink the trophies again... see below.

Originally Posted by EricH

They've already shrunk the size of the trophies once [cue massive complaints] and removed participation medals from the equation (for participation pins in the KOP).

It is amusing that our 2006 Granite State Regional Winner trophy is decisively larger than our more prestigious trophies from more recent seasons... and saddening.