Wild Card Spot Reform?

[Chris is me]

You have to consider that before 2013, the alternative to wildcards was absolutely nothing. It was win or go home. Wildcards are an immense improvement over those days - just ask anyone in Canada.

That said, it's pretty clear that in the next several years, we just need to make every region a "district", and advance teams by points regardless of whether or not that region has district-style events and a DCMP, or regional style events with no DCMP. The "dream" for me is that teams get points at their first two events regardless of where they are (or 2x the first event if they are a 1 event team), they then qualify for particular regional championships assigned to them if available.

Wildcards are a stopgap.

[Doug Frisk]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

You have to consider that before 2013, the alternative to wildcards was absolutely nothing. It was win or go home. Wildcards are an immense improvement over those days - just ask anyone in Canada.

That said, it's pretty clear that in the next several years, we just need to make every region a "district", and advance teams by points regardless of whether or not that region has district-style events and a DCMP, or regional style events with no DCMP. The "dream" for me is that teams get points at their first two events regardless of where they are (or 2x the first event if they are a 1 event team), they then qualify for particular regional championships assigned to them if available.

Wildcards are a stopgap.

What you propose, could be done today. If FIRST wants 15% of teams to go to Championships, then at the end of the season, the regional teams with the highest points based on the district formula could be invited.

The logistical issue with that is that the invites would have to go out no earlier than Saturday night after the week six events finish which is kind of late for finding accommodations for a lot of teams.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by DareDad

What you propose, could be done today. If FIRST wants 15% of teams to go to Championships, then at the end of the season, the regional teams with the highest points based on the district formula could be invited.

The logistical issue with that is that the invites would have to go out no earlier than Saturday night after the week six events finish which is kind of late for finding accommodations for a lot of teams.

We've been dealing with that logistical challenge for a few season's now. Week 7 DCMP teams will find out if they qualify for CMP late Saturday afternoon.