Southern Championship math question

[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.

[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...

[ATannahill]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

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

I imagine FIRST HQ looked at what weekends were available and choose based off that.

[Basel A]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

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

North has most of the districts, and pushing the districts into fewer weeks is hard. Makes more sense to give North an extra week.

[TDav540]

Originally Posted by Basel A

North has most of the districts, and pushing the districts into fewer weeks is hard. Makes more sense to give North an extra week.

Agreed. To top that, the only district going to the Houston Championship that had a week 7 DCMP in 2016 is Peachtree, so there aren't even too many events that have to move.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by TDav540

Agreed. To top that, the only district going to the Houston Championship that had a week 7 DCMP in 2016 is Peachtree, so there aren't even too many events that have to move.

North Carolina doesn't count? Jeez... we get no respect.

[TDav540]

Originally Posted by marshall

North Carolina doesn't count? Jeez... we get no respect.

Um....pretty sure you had a week 6 DCMP.....https://www.thebluealliance.com/events

[marshall]

Originally Posted by TDav540

Um....pretty sure you had a week 6 DCMP.....https://www.thebluealliance.com/events

Well then I can't count... which actually explains a lot.

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Basel A

North has most of the districts, and pushing the districts into fewer weeks is hard. Makes more sense to give North an extra week.

As a counter, most teams that travel to FIRST Super Regional South (FSRS) have to fly, and now have one less week to book airfare, further increasing the cost for them to attend FSRS.

Most of those attending FSRN don't have to book airfare. Specifically, literally 25% of FSRN attendees live in the same state at their FSR from 2018-2020. This is not the case for FSRS.

Also, FSRS being Week 8 is just another bump in the long, 10+ year road to get California to Districts. Good times!

Question, will Peachtree District be pushing their DCMP to week 6 next year? Has it been discussed?

-Mike

[Basel A]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

As a counter, most teams that travel to FIRST Super Regional South (FSRS) have to fly, and now have one less week to book airfare, further increasing the cost for them to attend FSRS.

Most of those attending FSRN don't have to book airfare. Specifically, literally 25% of FSRN attendees live in the same state at their FSR from 2018-2020. This is not the case for FSRS.

-Mike

Feel free to come to North, we'd love to have you

Your point is a good one. Teams can reserve then cancel buses. Harder to do for flights. I think the increase in events per week has a bigger impact, but that's probably just personal bias. Michigan is probably 24 events next year, and a jump from 3.5 events/week (21 in 6) to 4.8 (24 in 5) would be rough.

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Basel A

Feel free to come to North, we'd love to have you

Your point is a good one. Teams can reserve then cancel buses. Harder to do for flights. I think the increase in events per week has a bigger impact, but that's probably just personal bias. Michigan is probably 24 events next year, and a jump from 3.5 events/week (21 in 6) to 4.8 (24 in 5) would be rough.

Good point.

Pro's and Con's to both options.

Another thing to consider; FSRN is definitely going to be considered the real CMP for the next four years.

• One more week of iterations (two more weeks in 2019)
• FSRS to watch/study the week before
• Better districts/regional teams
• Less Waitlist Teams

I predict FSRN will have higher average scores in quals and stronger playoff alliances for 2017-2020.

We'd like to come to FSRN but I have a feeling that will be pretty difficult

-Mike

[TDav540]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

I predict FSRN will have higher average scores in quals and stronger playoff alliances for 2017-2020.

We'd like to come to FSRN but I have a feeling that will be pretty difficult

-Mike

Higher Qual scores, probably. Better playoffs alliances.....I think that's more division dependent and will fluctuate. Effectively, you're adding 25 teams to each division. How many of these teams make the playoffs? A few come to mind, but not much more than that.

I expect the level of eliminations play to be relatively the same this year as it was in 2015 and 2016, at least at the division finals level.

[ghostmachine360]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

Question, will Peachtree District be pushing their DCMP to week 6 next year? Has it been discussed?

-Mike

Yes, and no. We'll hopefully be able to have a full answer soon. We've also got the new FTC South Super-Regional as well in Georgia for 2017, so January - March is going to be interesting in getting all the events in.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by ghostmachine360

Yes, and no. We'll hopefully be able to have a full answer soon. We've also got the new FTC South Super-Regional as well in Georgia for 2017, so January - March is going to be interesting in getting all the events in.

I think the PNW is also holding the West Super Regional this year, which might push their previously 6 week district schedule into a tight squeeze.