Wisconsin District Rankings

[EricLeifermann]

Originally Posted by rich2202

My point was for WI NOT to go to the District model. Then, with states around WI going to District, teams could choose if and which they wanted to join.

In some respects, there are advantages to having a Regional surrounded by Districts. If MN, IL, and MI all were Districts, WI would be a convenient place for teams to come for a Regional. Also, Milwaukee and Chicago get a few international teams. If IL and WI went to Districts, then we would loose those international teams.




WI particular, or in general? If general, there are already multi-state districts:
New England, Pacific North West, Chesapeake, Mid Atlantic.

Any reason for WI and IL not to form one Midwest District? Most of the IL and WI teams are near Milwaukee and Chicago. District Champs could alternate between Milwaukee and Chicago.

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

The blind leading the blind here: Its not a mandate, but its a lot easier to keep things within state lines. I think this has to do with funding and things like State-specific grants/sponsorship (i.e if UW had a large grant for STEM programs but can only be used in WI... the grant might be too big for a team to win, but a prime candidate for whatever FIRST in WI group is running districts. If we were the WI-IL districts, then FIRST in WIIL wouldn't be eligible).



I'm guessing the biggest problem is [see above]. For a Chicago team that is practically in Indiana, lets say they joined Indiana Districts... if Indiana FIRST received Indiana Grant Money that can only be used in Indiana, how does Indiana FIRST make sure they aren't violating that grant and using the money to benefit Chicago-Border Team?

I could be totally wrong here, but this is what I have gathered is the biggest problem for multi-state districts.

It actually has been a mandate that when a state goes to districts the entire state goes, no opting out.

Also the discussion about single state vs multi state is a sense of identity and ease of finding sponsorship. With a single state district you can go to companies in that state and tout how their money is staying in the state and that they are sponsoring the STATE championship. When state lines are crossed things get muddled. Also multi state districts communication and agreement on how things are run get exponentially more difficult.

Another thing is the difficulty of a multi state district especially with IL is that instead of only needed 4-5 total events the 1st year moving to districts we would need 10-12. That's a much bigger undertaking and a really hard sell.