Championship 2007 - Atlanta - What Needs To Be Improved

[Jason Morrella]

7. Go back to showing the rankings on the big screen on each field in between matches. Playing the adds for the sponsors is a good idea and practice, but maybe at least alternate - after one match show the ads, after the next match show the rankings, repeat.

8. The serpentine system experiment needs to end and go back to the regular draft order. Again, the C in FRC is for "competition". There is a reason they're called "qualifying matches" and why there are rankings...so teams can try to better their position and chances for the playoffs. There is no rational for punishing a team for seeding # 1 - they earned the right to pick first in each round.

9. The safety award. Great idea and worthy award to have. But the best ideas, if implemented poorly, are no longer good ideas. The award as it exists now is out of control and needs to be reined in - many have pointed out the examples, so I won't go into detail. It should be an award, but it needs to be fixed and treated like the rest of the awards. When more time, resources and judges are spent on any single award other than the Chairman's Award....it should be a signal that it needs to be revisited.

10. FIRST needs to let teams know that there is a wrap video at the end of the Championship Closing Ceremony. Those are great videos, teams love to see them and yet the stands were almost empty when it played because FIRST never told teams it was going to play. The guys who put that video together deserved to have it played to a full house, and the teams who paid $5,000 to be there deserved to see the montage of their experience.

11. FIRST needs to correctly publicize the agendas. Everyone knows at this point that it is NEVER a surprise that the closing ceremonies go "long". In fact, they don't go over the expected time at all - they take that long every year. Yet every year, FIRST prints that the playoffs will end earlier then they and all the teams know it will. Same at the regionals - we all know the playoffs do not end at 3pm....they haven't for years. Yet they still print that in the agenda, which is very bad when sponsors, guests and speakers make plans to watch the playoffs (or speak) and have to miss the end of the finals or the closing ceremonies because they made their schedule around the FIRST public agenda. End the ceremonies when you say you will, or say you will end them later - people just want an honest expectation of what to plan around and expect.

12. If your closing ceremonies go over the stated time, then the after party must be postponed appropriately. There is no excuse for asking performers to prepare to entertain all the teams, then force them to cut their act short and start before the teams arrive. That is not professional or gracious, and should never happen. Not to mention, all the teams who actually stayed at the closing ceremonies didn't get to see the entertainment at the team party that they were charged good money for - does that mean they get a partial refund? Of course not - so if they are going to charge for the ticket to attend, then they shouldn't start it until the ceremonies are over.

my .025 cents

Hope everyone has a wonderful off season!