Regionals on TV?

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by lynca

I'm not sure why this has been limited just to Kickoff and Championship.

The reason is simple - $$$$

Every year, NASA (and every other sponsor) has to make decisions about how to allocate available resources, which are finite. This year we had to decide whether to use some of those resources to provide NASA TV coverage of a regional competition, or to provide financial support for three additional teams via the regional challenge grants. Was that the right choice? It can be argued either way. The three teams that received the grants obviously would think so. But all the teams and communities around the country that might be exposed to FIRST if we were able to broadcast the regional competitions might see it differently. It can be argued that the potential long-term benefit that could come to the entire FIRST program outweighs the potential short-term benefit of three additional teams in the 2008 competition.

We will face the same decision regarding allocation of (limited) resources next year. Should we make the same prioritization that we did this year? We would be interested in hearing any (constructive) comments and input.

-dave




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