pic: Districts in Minnesota Flyer

[Dan Petrovic]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

While I agree that having the 12 matches is great for getting better ranking results, one important thing to keep in mind is that playing 12 matches played over ~1.5 days with 40 teams is usually a much more grueling pace than teams that attend regionals are used to. I think the biggest break in scheduled matches we had this year was like 30 minutes (any longer was due to field issues) but most matches we played were within less than 10 minutes of each other making robot maintenance much more problematic if you have any major issues.

While this was certainly an issue in the first year of districts in New England, it hasn't felt like it was such a grueling pace these past two years.

In any case, teams should be prepared for quick turnarounds because that's the reality of the elimination rounds.

It certainly isn't a black and white comparison. Regionals and Districts have their benefits. I was just highlighting a benefit that isn't as obvious as cost per match.