What would you do to improve the FIRST experience?

[jweston]

Originally Posted by Jake177

This is definitely an area where teams in a District system have an unfair advantage. I agree that keeping District teams from competing at a Regional would mitigate this, but I'm curious if there's a middle ground somewhere.

• How would your opinion change if District teams competing at a Regional were not eligible for the three qualifying awards (Chairman's, Engineering Inspiration, and Rookie All-Star)?
• What if a District team on a Regional-winning alliance generated a Wild Card Slot? In the current system, they are essentially taking up two Championship slots, one from the Regional and one from their home District's allocation. It seems like a Wild Card would be a reasonable way of awarding one of those slots to another deserving team at the Regional.

Definitely like the idea of making district teams ineligible for qualifying awards at regional events. The wild card slot feels a bit weird, but maybe if there was no reward except recognition (i.e. no World qualification) to tempt district teams to compete at a regional, maybe a district team regional win would be less likely to happen. Hard to say.

I see regionals as the equivelant of a district championship for geographical areas that don't have enough FRC concentration (yet) to make a district model work. Teams in regional areas have no opportunity to get into a district championship. It doesn't seem right to have district teams take advantage. District teams have a lot more opportunity to gain extra experience and unbag time at district events over regional teams. Plus district teams potentially have another opportunity at their own district championship.