FIRST Festival of Champions

[SpaceBiz]

I would guess that it is more likely that the 4th bot on an alliance wouldn't attend than the first three. It is harder to justify all of the logistics and money required to attend if you are unlikely to compete.

I really hope all 8 teams go, and think they probably will, but I don't think FIRST will cover travel just to ensure that all 8 teams attend when you are almost guaranteed to have the top 3 teams on each alliance at the event for the all-star game.

Overall, I am excited about this announcement and think it is a step in the right direction to mitigate the complaints of having 2 champs.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

We get it. You don't like this. The whole regional -> Champs -> Festival thing is bad. Would it help if we renamed things? How about regional -> super regional -> champs?

I think this is as good as it was gonna get in terms of a culminating event, with the only possible exception being having all einstein teams from both half champs playing in a single division for qualifications and elims in the summer (which has a ton of logistical problems).

But...let's be real. You're dramatically oversimplifying things. The progression you've laid out here is not correct. This event isn't "champs". It's a cool expo of half champions vs half champions.

[bobbysq]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

It will be interesting to see what format this ends up being.
If it is just 8 teams.... will there be new alliances formed?
If there are quals... then how does that work? It only takes 16 matches total to get all the teams 12 matches a piece considering that each match has 6 teams playing. ( I am sure that won't work and will probably need some surrogate appearances... but it won't take many....)

Do the the top two qualifiers then get to pick alliances as normal?
Hmmmm looks like the two #1 picks and alliance captains from the other champs could get together.... at least two of them...

This could be interesting.

What does everyone else think? How do you think they will do it?

Surely it won't simply be the Houston winning alliance vs the St. Louis winning alliance... that would be pretty short and hardly worth the money to get the robot out there.... and the team...

Ideas?

They could have divisions basically be an isolated District, and then teams above a certain percentile get qualified in.

[Bryce Clegg]

Originally Posted by Jay O'Donnell

And to just keep people from being afraid, yes the snow is gone by July up here.

Thank you for this information. Here in North Carolina, we delay, if not cancel school at the possibility of ice.

[tjf]

I doubt I can seriously add anything to either the saltpile or the conversation at this point, but I'll try.

This post is my own 2c, as are all. Take it with a grain.

The Festival of Champions is FIRST's, well, first major attempt at a larger, less-robot centric event, that focuses on the teams and the effort. It may still be a significant throw from some of our offseasons (CC/IRI), but it's the first step, and as the first year we're getting 2Cha,ps, I'm glad that FIRST is making an effort to appease some of the problems that people had with 2Champs.

I'm just glad there'll be some matchup between our 2Champion Alliances.

Logistically, however, I imagine it'd be difficult for some teams to make it, considering some students may have graduated, moved on, taken jobs, and / or their mentors be able to burn yet another 3 days of vacation to go.

I hope for the best, plan for the worst. Same we all do on and off the field.

[Jacob Bendicksen]

Originally Posted by SpaceBiz

I would guess that it is more likely that the 4th bot on an alliance wouldn't attend than the first three.

Probably true, but as Lil' Lavery mentioned, knowing your opponents for three months should make strategy really interesting, so fourth robots will be more important here than they've ever been.

Overall, I think this is probably the best outcome given 2champs, though the timing is a little tricky.

[ScandallB225]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

Why am I going to waste my time to watch the webcast? What are they going to give the general audience? Unless they add something of value to the audience with future announcements this idea is dumb. Call me negative if you want but if my team qualifies for this I will not attend.

Originally Posted by Karthik

I mean, you wasted your time posting in a thread talking about how you're not going to waste your time by watching the webcast, so I really have no idea how you value your time.

You're killing me Karthik.

My first reaction;
Is FIRST going to pay for our Israeli alliance partners when we qualify, and can I stretch for another vacation the whole week from IRI to FOC. Who wouldn't want to go?

[Hallry]

What happens when a school-sponsored team wins Houston or St. Louis/Detroit and their now-graduated drive team isn't allowed by their school to compete at FoC?

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Hallry

What happens when a school-sponsored team wins Houston or St. Louis/Detroit and their now-graduated drive team isn't allowed by their school to compete at FoC?

The same thing that happens when FIRST makes an earnest effort to address concerns presented, people will complain on Chief Delphi about the things not being perfect.

[Jessica Boucher]

Originally Posted by Jay O'Donnell

Also my guess for venue is the Verizon Wireless Arena (old home of GSR).

And to just keep people from being afraid, yes the snow is gone by July up here.

I could point to three possible venues.

1.) SNHU Arena, downtown Manchester (I thought it was still called the Verizon Wireless Arena too, thanks Google): for the reasons stated above. It's a solid hockey arena that could arguably hold the most visitors. Website doesn't have any events posted during that time, and it will be long past the arena's main summer use: graduations.

2.) SNHU Fieldhouse (Also known as the Kickoff Venue): Smaller, but has good flow between auxiliary gym and main gym. Could definitely handle the team count, arguably lacking on comfortable seating as it's mostly bleachers. Has a solid VIP space and parking. Could be already booked for sports and summer classes.

3.) Memorial High School: If you want to go #OGFRC, there's only one venue. Has basically the same pros and cons as the SNHU Fieldhouse, but it also lacking a solid VIP area and parking for the crowd size. But, RiverRage has run just fine there for many years.

My gut says SNHU arena, but my heart wants Memorial.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Hallry

What happens when a school-sponsored team wins Houston or St. Louis/Detroit and their now-graduated drive team isn't allowed by their school to compete at FoC?

They have three months to press for an exception, or train up a new driver with whatever they have on hand.

As for the whole "knowing your opponent for three months" thing: It does invite an opportunity for teams to be cutting promos on one another (within the bounds of good fun and Gracious Professionalism, of course) that I hope these teams take. Truly great feuds--whether in sport, in business, or anywhere--are born just as much out of lore and off-field exchanges as they are action on the field. What made Ric Flair a legend of the squared circle? Steve Spurrier, on the gridiron? Both were tremendously talented at their chosen profession, but they also always had something to say about their next opponent to draw interest.

[ratdude747]

Looks like I'm making yet another long road trip... Yay.

(Seriously, I'll attend/volunteer if my work schedule allows... just "because".)

[jman4747]

Originally Posted by Billfred

As for the whole "knowing your opponent for three months" thing: It does invite an opportunity for teams to be cutting promos on one another (within the bounds of good fun and Gracious Professionalism, of course)

Yes...

I want this: https://youtu.be/D59Bjl3MWWs

We must have a parody of that!

[microbuns]

This idea could be great, if FIRST executes this properly. One thing I fear, however, is major burnout for team members who make it to this. People are putting in massive amounts of hours for 4 months to make an Einstein winning-capable robot, and now they might feel obligated to spend another 2.

So on the one hand, for the team members, I hope this more like a relaxed all-star show.

On the other hand, for the fans and the competition, I hope this decides the de facto world champion.

[aspiece]

Change and Growth are not easy for any organization and especially stakeholders. I have experienced this with my team as well as being in FIM. I applaud FIRST for listening to their stakeholders and addressing their concerns. I believe they have done a great job working with the community to come up with a solution that meets the concerns that were brought up. I list this "problem" as "one of those good problems to have".

I get to work on problems like this all the time.

Let's be real. Students are passionate about learning well into the summer. I literally have students coming to me and basically begging me to get into the school to do more planning before kickoff. They beg me to come to school on days the school is off. They beg me to get into the school on a snow day. (For those of you who live in the north, you know this is crazy talk) I am REALLY proud to be a part of this awesome organization that inspires kids to learn, then learn some more. NO other program does this like FIRST does. I would say VEX but I just let them take that robot home with them. LOL They are like "Mom, Mr. Spiece let me bring it home to work on". Mom says, "It's 1am and you have school in the morning."

Anyhow, I have not announced this to the kids yet but I can't wait to tomorrow night. They are going to be fired up about going to hang with Dean at his house. They are going to love this idea and I am going to do whatever I can to help them make this happen.

My mentors have even offered to shave their heads if they make it to Einstein. So, if you see a 60-year-old engineer, wearing orange with a freshly shaved head, you will see a bunch of awesome kids right behind him ready to take on the world.

As for the logistics, this happened recently in FIM where our State Championships is on the west side of the state. Us, as adults, find ways to help the kids to make it happen.

Like I tell my kids, "Yes there is more money out there". We just have to ask! We are going to have work, we are going to do it together and we are going to get there. Once you have cooked over 50,000 Turkey Legs in 7 weekends, you start to learn that, Yes, it can be done.

Talk to your kids, come up with a plan and go get it. Once you find out you qualified, you have 14 weeks to come up with that money. Go find it! If there is anything I can do to help, I would be happy to help out.

Well, I think I made my point here. I am sure someone will have something to say about but remember why we are here. Remember what makes champions and remember we are all leaders and leaders sacrifice for their teams.

Here is a video from John Maxwell on Leadership: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpzkgQ33RVc