Southern Championship math question

[FrankJ]

I looked for next years schedule, but couldn't find it. If I am counting on my fingers correctly, southern championship is week 8. Which means district championship cannot be on week 7, like this year for PCH (Georgia) was.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by FrankJ

I looked for next years schedule, but couldn't find it. If I am counting on my fingers correctly, southern championship is week 8. Which means district championship cannot be on week 7, like this year for PCH (Georgia) was.

That's my understanding as well. Districts champs will need to be week 6 for all southern championship teams in 2017.

[Doug Frisk]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

That's my understanding as well. Districts champs will need to be week 6 for all southern championship teams in 2017.

Yeah, we discussed this at the lunch table one day that districts have to run weeks 1-5 so district champs can be week 6.

It's going to be interesting from a logistical challenge in the larger districts. In Minnesota it would move from potentially managing with 2 events per week to requiring 3 events per week. Meaning an extra field and set of FTAs/key volunteers are needed. Michigan and PNW may be in similar situations.

[Kevin Leonard]

Alternatively, if the districts need to have their championships during Week 7, the districts could figure out travel arrangements for all the teams in their district who would qualify.

It's a really messy solution, logistically, but what if each district was able to make travel arrangements on behalf of teams. A district could theoretically have the ability to negotiate with travel companies on behalf of their groups, considering how large of a contract that would be.

Perhaps PCH could have booked out 14 buses and a block of rooms at championships, for example, and then the teams who qualified at their Week 7 Championship have their travel plans already accounted for by the district.

It obviously has numerous issues, like being potentially unable to account for the size of every team, and some teams may want to fly instead, etc.

Thoughts?

[FrankJ]

You would still have the logistical issue of getting your robot to champs. Even shipping on Monday, would be a priority (expensive) shipment to have to there by Wednesday mid day. Especially if you ship your pit as well.

[BethMo]

Originally Posted by DareDad

Yeah, we discussed this at the lunch table one day that districts have to run weeks 1-5 so district champs can be week 6.

It's going to be interesting from a logistical challenge in the larger districts. In Minnesota it would move from potentially managing with 2 events per week to requiring 3 events per week. Meaning an extra field and set of FTAs/key volunteers are needed. Michigan and PNW may be in similar situations.

PNW is going to be hell. We are hosting the FTC super-regional next year, and that's going to take one of the weekends that would normally be district events. I don't know how we'll fit everything in.

[Arhowk]

Originally Posted by DareDad

Michigan may be in similar situations.

We already have *most* of the assets needed to run 4 districts a week... (the only issue is exhausting our dedicated volunteers)

[InFlight]

The other issue is when Easter falls each year during that short District event window. Hard to staff and get participation that week.

Unless you add another entire field setup and have enough additional volunteers; the more likely scenario is a few less district events but with more teams at each one. PNW events are normally capped at 40, that would have grow some to fit in a shorter window.

[Christopher149]

Originally Posted by Arhowk

[Michigan] We already have *most* of the assets needed to run 4 districts a week... (the only issue is exhausting our dedicated volunteers)

But if we needed to run all events in 5 weeks, we'd need 5 events one weekend (having 21 events). But Michigan is a Northern Champs event, so we don't need to do this.

[alicen]

Originally Posted by Arhowk

the only issue is exhausting our dedicated volunteers

This is the issue I foresee with PCH District events.
Our volunteers are incredible, but this first year of districts definitely took a toll on some people's schedules and such. (That and the need to find more wonderful volunteers)

[Bryan Herbst]

What if the Championship events become bag and tag events?

I don't have data on how many teams drive vs. fly, but if teams bring their robots with them shipping becomes a non-issue.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Tanis

What if the Championship events become bag and tag events?

I don't have data on how many teams drive vs. fly, but if teams bring their robots with them shipping becomes a non-issue.

Not a good idea--on the southern side of things.

Just for Southern Championship:
Any team on the West Coast (and possibly the Rocky Mountains) is going to be flying. That's the entire PNW contingent, plus the 42+ from CA's 7 regionals, 6+ from Hawaii, 6+ from Vegas, and 12+ from Arizona's regionals. (Colorado, Utah, and Idaho teams are "on the border" as far as drive vs fly--they might go 50-50.)

Then you factor in the international teams (Australia and Israel with 6 each, plus possibly China with 6, and can't forget about Western Canada's 6 qualifiers). I haven't even gotten to the east coast but I'd be fairly certain some of those teams would fly (say, the South Florida contingent).

If you add up those best-guess numbers, about a quarter of the event is likely to fly (oh, and I'm not even counting the waitlist or HoF teams there, so make that at least a quarter). Teams that fly cannot bring their robot with them on the plane. They'll have to trailer and drive (1-2, maybe 3, long days, depending on distance), or just plain ship the robot. This is a significant portion of the field.

Also, if you eliminate shipping, the inspectors have to check all the bag forms. Guess what, you just added time to the inspection...


Northern Championship is a bit different. Most teams there are within about a day's drive by bus, I'd say--maybe a very long day--with the primary exceptions being New England and any European teams that qualify. I could see Northern Championship being bag-and-tag with a lot less difficulty than the Southern Championship.

[Cabey4]

I feel as if a better way to make travel arrangements would be really helpful. Trying to book tickets and hotels (and for my team, organizing international flights too) are a nightmare, and it would be much cheaper and easier if it could be organized before the event. But how you would do it is a hard question, and particularly as most international events (like the Australia Regional), flights would need to be able to change their departure, making it effectively impossible.

For international teams who need it most, it's kinda impossible ( ) But travel is obviously still a huge pain for every team, and organizing it for districts sounds possible, just hard. But it would probably be worth it.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by BethMo

PNW is going to be hell. We are hosting the FTC super-regional next year, and that's going to take one of the weekends that would normally be district events. I don't know how we'll fit everything in.

The last two seasons we had DCMP week 6 and this season we were able to accommodate everyone in 9 events. That switch was made to accommodate hosting the FTC Super Regional. So the only real change is that there is less time to make arrangements and get to CMP.

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by EricH

Not a good idea--on the southern side of things.

Northern Championship is a bit different. Most teams there are within about a day's drive by bus, I'd say--maybe a very long day--with the primary exceptions being New England and any European teams that qualify. I could see Northern Championship being bag-and-tag with a lot less difficulty than the Southern Championship.

So FIRST HQ blew it and had the wrong event first...