2007 Championship dates

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by santosh

But does anyone know why it was moved up 2 weeks earlier. Was it to stop conflicting with prom, I doubt that, or was it to stop conflicting with AP Test studying?

The date varies slightly from year to year (it was a couple of weeks earlier back in 2004 also), and I suspect has more to do with when the venue is available than anything else.

[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally Posted by santosh

But does anyone know why it was moved up 2 weeks earlier. Was it to stop conflicting with prom, I doubt that, or was it to stop conflicting with AP Test studying?

This is about the same time of the month that Nationals was in 2003, and possibly 2001 (though my memory on that one is less clear). There are lots of factors that go into it, among them venue availability, the timing of Easter (spring break makes a big impact on venue availability, plus hotels and other travel arrangements), and the date of kickoff (a later kickoff means competition season starts later). In 6 years, I've seen everything from the second weekend of April to the last.

Looking at this year's schedule, we had:
Kickoff: January 7
Ship Day: Feb 21
First Regional: Mar 2-4
Last Regional: Mar 30-Apr 1
Easter: Apr 16
Championship: Apr 27-Apr 29

Judging by this, FIRST probably chose the later date because they didn't want to have the Championship right after the last week of regionals, Easter was the following weekend, and the weekend after that would be part of most schools' spring break. Thus, the last weekend would be preferable.

Going by a similar schedule, next year might look something like this:
Kickoff: January 6
Ship Day: Feb 20
First Regional: Mar 1-3
Last Regional: Mar 29-31
Easter: Apr 8
Championship: Apr 12-Apr 14

With this schedule, the Championship would be during a lot of schools' spring break, so that was probably not a deciding factor this time around. Looking at the Georgia Dome calendar though, there was the "2007 ASUG Annual Conference-SAPPHIRE'07 " scheduled from 4/22-4/26, which would likely tie up both of the last 2 weekends in April. So, if that event was scheduled first, it's most likely the reason for an earlier date.

Interestingly enough, the calendar also lists "FIRST Robotics Championship" on 4/16-4/19/08

[Michelle Celio]

Originally Posted by santosh

But does anyone know why it was moved up 2 weeks earlier. Was it to stop conflicting with prom, I doubt that, or was it to stop conflicting with AP Test studying?

With dates like that, it might affect many Florida proms. I know my schools this year was April 8th.

It would be hard to find a date that wouldn't affect anyone's schedule.