How do you grow your off-season competition?

[Greg Hainsworth]

More teams means fewer qualifying rounds. Off season events are also opportunities for the 'second string' members to get field time. Maximize their field time. When you only get 24 teams into playoffs, you want to keep the number of teams participating low so that you maximize the probability of playoff selection.

40 teams is the size of a 2 day event with 12+ qualifying rounds per team. If the math is linear, a one day event with 40 teams would likely only allow for 6 qualifying rounds per team. We attended one off season event hosting 34 teams. We played 5 qualifying rounds + 1 practice round. At one point we were more than an hour behind schedule and not for a lack of volunteers. You need to build in buffer for equipment glitches, restarts, and a clearing the field and setting up for the next round, making announcements of teams, etc. This will take longer than you expect.

I would be surprised if at a 40 team 1 day event you manage to play more than 3 qualifying rounds. With the chances of playoffs selection being about 50/50, I would pass on that event. It wouldn't be as beneficial to the team to gain experience.

I'd rather pay a little higher entry fee than attend a larger event.