POLL: How do you feel about Nationals being in Atlanta??

[Amanda Morrison]

Originally posted by GregTheGreat
I think that it is great, that they announced it so early, although I believe that agreeing to a three year run at this location might be a mistake. I would love to see it there, although I would rather have it there for a one year run and then decide weather the location is suitable for nationals.

I'm with Greg. Although I'm sure the dome will be an excellent venue and that the Atlanta area will suit this event to a 't', I'd still rather see us hold the nats there for one year and then decide.

However, if this helps with costs to teams and seems like the best venue, I'll trust FIRST and say that it'll be great.

[Jeff_Rice]

Hear me, people! The Championship event should be held in Oregon!

A great change of scenery for nearly everyone, reasonable hotel rates, and close to a large cluster of FIRST teams that could help with the event. Certain venues have expressed interest in holding a regional here, why not the Championships?





But seriously, I think oregon would be a good choice.

[Elgin Clock]

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah......

You know what?? I am sick of people posting polls about the location as soon as it is released?? How do I know if I like the location?? How do I know if I hate it??

And then there are the people who just disregard the polls and say, "well I think the championships should be in X place", or "It would be better in Y place"

Will you all just chill out and see how it is before you judge the locale??

The only thing I am going to say about Atlanta as of now is, I wish they just told us that it was going to be there this year and held off the fact that it will be there for the next #th years for a while... It adds to the mystery and surprise....

Although I am disappointed that the locale these next few years is again a stadium with a huge maximum capacity..

It was kind of depressing when we were watching the matches, or the opening and closing ceremonies this year and seeing all those empty seats. Is this something we can change this year?? Maybe a new competition structure rule will be announced to include all the teams like it used to be, and should be to set FIRST apart from all the rest of the sports and competitions???

And pssst..... I heard it was going to be a water competition this year... LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[Tyler Olds]

I like the location. However, if the pits could be right next to everything else. That would be the best. Our cart is a beast and it is not fun to lug around uphill and for a 3 min walk.

[Tyler Olds]

Originally posted by Elgin Clock
Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah......

Although I am disappointed that the locale these next few years is again a stadium with a huge maximum capacity..

It was kind of depressing when we were watching the matches, or the opening and closing ceremonies this year and seeing all those empty seats. Is this something we can change this year?? Maybe a new competition structure rule will be announced to include all the teams like it used to be, and should be to set FIRST apart from all the rest of the sports and competitions???

And pssst..... I heard it was going to be a water competition this year... LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Reguards to the huge statium. If you remember Epcot, we were at compacity!!!! Might as well plan for the future, and never know, within 10 years that stadium might be filled up. Where do we go from there????

[Yan Wang]

Well, if you had 1000 teams wanting to attend nationals and who qualify, have 5 championship qualifying tournaments at various cities and have the top 40 from each attend the actual nationals. It does seem unrealistic to fit all the teams who want to go to nationals in 10 or 20 years into one facility.

[DKolberg]

I have major concerns about Atlanta, what to do in the downtime and the issue of security to let kids roam. It also hurts our recruiting efforts for a new team at an additional school. A 3 year commitment seems a mistake.

Spent lots of time in Atlanta and know the site well. Yeah the tournament stuff is fine, but that's not my issue here. My main issue is being responsible for young and older teens (age 13-18) who will want to go off for activities in the downtime (only so many will be in the pit all the time) and the security issues for this location are questionable. Disney was a place that parents and schools thought had an acceptable level of security mixed with many options for fun.

When we were at DIsney groups of 3 or more could go off during the day on their own and we had confidence no harm would come to them - you have to work to get into trouble there. What can they do in downtown Atlanta with similar confidence? I have a feeling kids will be stuck with chaperones all the time. Will it be like regionals where we won't allow them to leave the building? THis is more days and will be worse to manage.

As for recruiting, we are working on adding a team at a new school. The DIsney trip in exchange for all their free hours for 6-8 weeks seemed an attractive offer for newbies to get them hooked. Atlanta does not help me at all in recruiting kids who have never been to a match.

Disney was also a nice thank you to the spouse and kids we coaches/mentors neglect for the season - a convention center is no treat for them. Disney gave us a whole lots of advantages in addition to a place to have the competition.

A Mom I told about this venue responded in horror and said you mean where they had the bombing - what kind of security are they going to have? Very helpful in recruiting. SHe strongly suggested we just stay at regionals for a year and see if Atlanta pans out. This is going to be a hard sell and whether it works out or not we have it for the next 3 years.

If not Disney, then 3 years is too big a commitment, especially for an untested venue. If we are going to settle for a convention center site, I'd rather have rotations - an east, midwest, south and west rotation, at least kids could see a little more of the country. - I agree with the message earlier, that if we are inside a convention center the weather hardly matters.

[Ryan Foley]

too bad we dont have any big enough venues in NH. It would be great to bring championships to the place where FIRST all started in 1992.

Atlanta shouldn't be too bad though.

Just my $.02

[pauluffel]

Eh, the bombing was 7 years ago and was just because the Olympics were here. Every friday of the summer for the past few years, Centennial Park has had more people in it than on the day of the bombing, yet none of these people have been killed. As to letting the little kiddies out on the streets alone, last year I walked a few miles through downtown Atlanta from the MARTA station to Georgia Tech to go to robotics meetings and never once even saw so much as a single crime (and our police ride around on segways).
If a 14 year-old can wander the streets alone at night, I believe groups of 3-4 high schoolers can manage in the middle of the day.

[Ashley Weed]

Don't really kow if I have a right for an opinion or not, as I probaby won't go to nats for another 9 years due to college and med school..... however,

... I greatly appreciate it returning to the east coast.
... I wouldn't mind seeing something farther north, but it would be impossible at that time of the year. In my four years there were several complications of not being able to leave PA or return to PA due to the weather.
... I'm not fond of the city of Atlanta. Spent almost a week there prior to Nats in 2001, and neve found anything overly excited, and was deathly afraid of the 'locals' (that may just be because Im a native country/farm girl).

Perhaps with the addition of 20,000+ FIRST'ers.... Atlanta will be transformed into our world.. and a good time will be had by all.

[miketwalker]

The 3 year thing, yea... I wonder if they'll have to rethink that. As for location... I think that FIRST will be able to do more than they have at Epcot, just because of the planning time they have and now they don't need to pay for all of the big tents at Epcot, since we have the indoor venue. I also believe if FIRST plays its cards right, since they're right near CNN, we can get alot more promotion then we have in previous years, because CNN won't have to pay to travel, and if they actually see it, they might help us in the future. Just my thoughts.

[Lora Knepper]

Well, I miss Orlando, that's for sure. But, somewhat selfishly, I'm glad they picked Atlanta. It's only a 3 and a half hour drive for me, and I can get a "FIRST Fix" for nationals. It's even better than the 6 hour drive I made to attend the VCU Regional not long ago..... That said, I think it will be a good tool to encourage more teams to be formed in the deep south, south east, and mid south.

~ lora

[Aaron Knight]

I think that if Atlanta can attract the Olympics to there, I think there has to be the infrastructure and everything else we could possibly want down there.... plus, Atlanta's a cool place.....

Aaron Knight
Graduating member of Team 891
Syracuse, NY
http://first891.topcities.com

[Jnadke]

Originally posted by monsieurcoffee
Well, if you had 1000 teams wanting to attend nationals and who qualify, have 5 championship qualifying tournaments at various cities and have the top 40 from each attend the actual nationals. It does seem unrealistic to fit all the teams who want to go to nationals in 10 or 20 years into one facility.

1. There are only around 600 active teams in FIRST. That's the approximate number from last year. Some teams will drop out, some will come in. Next year the number will be about 700 if we're lucky.

2. Such a system is already in place. Instead of 5 championships, there are 15 regionals. From each regional, the champion alliance gets to go (about 3 teams). Then there's the 5 technical award teams. Lastly, there's the regional Chairman's award winner.

You have to remember, not every team can afford to go to 3 events. Travel, food, and hotel costs a lot of money, in case you didn't know. Many teams just opt for 1 regional and nationals.

[Madison]

Originally posted by Jnadke
1. There are only around 600 active teams in FIRST. That's the approximate number from last year. Some teams will drop out, some will come in. Next year the number will be about 700 if we're lucky.

There were over 800 teams competing in the 2003 season.