2017 Minnesota Regionals

[ABreyen]

Are any teams having more issues w/ registration? 2232 wasn't able to register for 10K lakes, and TBA only shows 30ish teams. Is this just a bug with registration? Anyone else having issues registering?

[Doug Frisk]

Originally Posted by ABreyen

Are any teams having more issues w/ registration? 2232 wasn't able to register for 10K lakes, and TBA only shows 30ish teams. Is this just a bug with registration? Anyone else having issues registering?

All 4 Minnesota regionals hold back 30 spaces during initial registration. Did you get yourself on the waiting list?

[Jon Stratis]

There were a lot of spots held back in the MN events this year. When you look at MN's growth rate, we'll probably be in the neighborhood of ~220 teams this year, with open capacity at our own regionals of ~240 spots. It's a really tough job balancing open access to play against diverse teams from across the globe with ensuring access to local area teams that may not be able to travel... I do not envy the RD's (ALL RD's!) that job.

That said, for teams local to any given regional, when you see that many spots that have been held back for the waitlist, you can probably sign up with a high confidence of getting in off that waitlist! And if you are in doubt, you can always contact your local RD's or Senior Mentors to get some direction! Just look up their contact info on the right side of the page here: http://www.firstinspires.org/about/contact-us

[Doug Frisk]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

There were a lot of spots held back in the MN events this year. When you look at MN's growth rate, we'll probably be in the neighborhood of ~220 teams this year, with open capacity at our own regionals of ~240 spots. It's a really tough job balancing open access to play against diverse teams from across the globe with ensuring access to local area teams that may not be able to travel... I do not envy the RD's (ALL RD's!) that job.

That said, for teams local to any given regional, when you see that many spots that have been held back for the waitlist, you can probably sign up with a high confidence of getting in off that waitlist! And if you are in doubt, you can always contact your local RD's or Senior Mentors to get some direction! Just look up their contact info on the right side of the page here: http://www.firstinspires.org/about/contact-us

And by my count, there are 18 non Minnesota teams already registered across the 4 MN regionals. It's very likely that some Minnesota teams will not be able to play in a Minnesota regional at all this year simply because there's no space for them.

[tjwolter]

Avis Automata is one of those 18 Non Minnesota teams. But it is 90 minutes for us to get to Minneapolis and probably four hours plus to go to Milwaukee. For that matter there are some southern MN teams for whom Iowa may be closer. I do feel for teams from sparsely populated areas. North Dakota teams would have a long drive to get into a tournament other than MN options.

[maxnz]

Originally Posted by DareDad

And by my count, there are 18 non Minnesota teams already registered across the 4 MN regionals. It's very likely that some Minnesota teams will not be able to play in a Minnesota regional at all this year simply because there's no space for them.

I did notice that 2220 - Blue Twilight did not go to a MN regional last year.