Wisconsin District Rankings

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

According to my talks with Gail in St Louis this year, they decided to go to districts in July of 2008. And everything fell into place after. Im sure there were venues in mind but I do not believe that they were reserved.

I don't believe everything just fell into place. "Districts" were not even a concept before 2008. They had to be invented.

From an old thread just before the start of the 2008 season, the exchange below is a faint glimpse into the thoughts that motivated FiM. I was not in Michigan at that time, but moved here a year later.

Originally Posted by Richard -- I'm wondering if FIRST works differently in Michigan?
Quote: Originally Posted by dlavery -- truer words have rarely been spoken...

I want to follow up on Dave's comment above, because it might help us all to consider the ways in which FIRST is different in Michigan.

Using data found here* and here*, we can see that Michigan has 104 registered FRC teams and hosts three regional FRC events (Detroit, Great Lakes, West Michigan) with a total published capacity of 130 teams. So if every FRC team in Michigan attends at least one Michigan event, and about 20% of them attend a second event, all the published event registration spots in Michigan will be filled -- leaving no room for out-of-state teams. Actually, Michigan probably has second event space for less than 10% of its FRC teams, because the final total of Michigan FRC teams in the 2007 season was 111 and it is reasonable to expect some growth.

As a thought experiment, let's consider this from the regional director's point of view. If we allow teams to register for a second Michigan event before all Michigan teams have registered for a first event, that decision will compel some Michigan teams to travel out-of-state -- making their cost of participation in FIRST higher. Not good for the goal of bringing FIRST to every Michigan high school.

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*Sorry the old links don't work any more -- FIRST's new site.