pic: Houston Venue for Championship 2017

[lynca]

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[yarden.saa]

How large it is compairing to the Dome in St. Louis and the Dome in Atlanta?

[Xavbro]

Originally Posted by yarden.saa

How large it is compairing to the Dome in St. Louis and the Dome in Atlanta?

Well those domes were for those cities football teams. The Toyota Center is for basketball and Minute Maid Park is for baseball. Both are smaller but the convention center is almost twice the size of the one in St. Louis so I think that will make up for it.

[Karthik]

Are robots moving between the three listed sites, or is all of FRC taking place in the convention center?

[Kevin Kolodziej]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Are robots moving between the three listed sites, or is all of FRC taking place in the convention center?

My understanding, after asking about it at the meeting at 2015 Champs, is that all of FRC will be taking place in the convention center. All matches. They did not have an answer for whether or not Einstein would take place in one of the arenas.

This continues to be the one piece of information that it seems most people have overlooked. I don't know what St. Louis in 2017 is supposed to be like but Houston and Detroit are supposedly going to be resurrecting the fields in the pits from 2011.

[Richard Wallace]

I understand from the announcement that all matches will be held in the convention center.

No details yet, that I could find. If each field has 100 ft of 15 row bleachers on each side, about 1200 per field could be seated. Each field would occupy about 16,000 sq.ft. This would be much larger than the pit-area fields that St. Louis used a few years ago, but I think it is necessary to provide enough seating in subdivisions. Einstein will be another matter -- not sure how that is going to fit in a convention hall.

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

I understand from the announcement that all matches will be held in the convention center.

No details yet, that I could find. If each field has 100 ft of 15 row bleachers on each side, about 1200 per field could be seated. Each field would occupy about 16,000 sq.ft. This would be much larger than the pit-area fields that St. Louis used a few years ago, but I think it is necessary to provide enough seating in subdivisions. Einstein will be another matter -- not sure how that is going to fit in a convention hall.

Yayyy, back to not having enough seating around the fields. What an upgrade...

#2isgreaterthan1champs

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Kevin Kolodziej

My understanding, after asking about it at the meeting at 2015 Champs, is that all of FRC will be taking place in the convention center. All matches. They did not have an answer for whether or not Einstein would take place in one of the arenas.

This continues to be the one piece of information that it seems most people have overlooked. I don't know what St. Louis in 2017 is supposed to be like but Houston and Detroit are supposedly going to be resurrecting the fields in the pits from 2011.

. Time to bring butt pads for prolonged seating on hard bleachers. I hope Einstein South isnt on one of those proposed fields.

[Xavbro]

I do hope they don't move robots/pits around. Houston has a reputation of rain and flooding happening in minutes and to transport to those other venues, I don't see much covering available. The convention center is very large and has 3 different floors. If they only have 4 divisions, I can see it all fitting nicely in the convention center. Maybe two divisions on the first and second floor with Einstein being on the 3rd floor. FLL and FTC could be on the third floor all together.

It could all work out but I think they would want use the Toyota Center or Minute Maid Park for opening and closing ceremonies. It would give them the seating that everyone is used to from past Championships.

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by waialua359

. Time to bring butt pads for prolonged seating on hard bleachers.

I know, let's take all of our teams and split them between 2 lesser quality events. Everyone will love it!

[Xavbro]

Originally Posted by waialua359

. Time to bring butt pads for prolonged seating on hard bleachers. I hope Einstein South isnt on one of those proposed fields.

If they use the bleachers that are used for Lone Star, they are quite comfortable

[Tim Sharp]

Originally Posted by Xavbro

If they use the bleachers that are used for Lone Star, they are quite comfortable

"Bleachers" and "Comfortable" are oxymorons

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Are robots moving between the three listed sites, or is all of FRC taking place in the convention center?

No, it won't be a repeat of the 2003 debacle. Lucia Sevcik (LSR RD) continues to insist to me that George R Brown will host FRC quals and division elims, but Einstein is supposed to happen in Minute Maid Park, which makes sense to me from a logistics and venue size standpoint. I can't see any possible way of fitting enough seating in one area of the GRB to make Einstein work there, even if you cram all 4 fields together and surround them with seats to the rafters.

Assuming this is the case, it would mean pit fields again for divisions, though probably with adequate seating since GRB has a lot more room than America's Center. Like, 500K SQF vs. 340K SQF. I don't think the stands in the pit fields will be nearly as crowded.

I'm assuming here that FTC, FLL, and FLLjr get tossed to the third floor where there's another 223K SQF which sounds like enough considering FTC was in 100 (awkward) SQF at Union Station and FLL was crammed in 50K in Hall 1 at America's Center. 50% more spcae for those programs will probably be sufficient.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

No, it won't be a repeat of the 2003 debacle. Lucia Sevcik (LSR RD) continues to insist to me that George R Brown will host FRC quals and division elims, but Einstein is supposed to happen in Minute Maid Park, which makes sense to me from a logistics and venue size standpoint. I can't see any possible way of fitting enough seating in one area of the GRB to make Einstein work there, even if you cram all 4 fields together and surround them with seats to the rafters.

Assuming this is the case, it would mean pit fields again for divisions, though probably with adequate seating since GRB has a lot more room than America's Center. Like, 500K SQF vs. 340K SQF. I don't think the stands in the pit fields will be nearly as crowded.

I'm assuming here that FTC, FLL, and FLLjr get tossed to the third floor where there's another 223K SQF which sounds like enough considering FTC was in 100 (awkward) SQF at Union Station and FLL was crammed in 50K in Hall 1 at America's Center. 50% more spcae for those programs will probably be sufficient.

Sounds like a cool setup. I had far less problems with the pit fields in 2011 than most of my peers. Any idea on the logistics of moving robots and pits from the convention center to Minute Maid for Einstein? How far is this walk?

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Sounds like a cool setup. I had far less problems with the pit fields in 2011 than most of my peers. Any idea on the logistics of moving robots and pits from the convention center to Minute Maid for Einstein? How far is this walk?

Looks like about a half mile on google maps. Maybe less depending on entrance of Minute Maid/what area of the convention center. Seems too far for teams to haul their stuff on foot though.

I didn't mind the pit fields that much in 2011, other than the bleachers being very uncomfortable. Hopefully FIRST springs for some with seatbacks this time around.