PNW introducing new funding model

[SoftwareBug2.0]

Originally Posted by DaveL

In the past, teams that did a better job of fundraising had a huge advantage over other teams. Teams that were able to go to 2 or 3 regional events were able to improve with practice, plus gain the extra un-bagged robot time.

There was no way to compete with teams that got an extra 3 to 6 days to drive and work on their bot.

Now with districts we closer to a level playing field. Each team gets to pick 2 events. Their performance (or awards) at these events determines who goes to the regional event. A team's third play performance has no affect on qualifying for a regional event.

Dave

You realize that teams still have the option to go play elsewhere, right?

Not only are teams not prohibitted from going to out of district events but it actually does happen in practice. A PNW team qualified for the chamionship by winning the engineering inspiration award at the Hawaii regional last year.

I don't begrudge 2522 for going and winning awards, and they are a team that I have enjoyed competing with, but there are some ways in which the current system is actually less fair than before. Now 2522 is a team that would have qualified for the championship regardless of the regional that they went to, but image if they weren't:

Their chamionship slot counts toward the PNW team quota which would mean that they would have displaced some other team. And that displaced team would have been denied a slot at chamionship because a team that they may not have ever gotten the chance to compete against won an award at some unrelated regional.