Atlanta tornado discussion

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by Nawaid Ladak

i remember back in 2006 reading something along the liens of

"FIRST is not responsible for any natural acts of god or any disasters preventing a competition from taking place. all payments are nonrefundable"

my question is... has anyone heard of this and is this still there somewhere in FIRST documents?

It's still there, slightly reworded and in a slightly different context:

"FIRST is not responsible for cancellations or the inability of a team to travel due to weather, threat of terrorism, act of God and other events beyond FIRST's control."

It's part of the Refund Policy. This is a normal sort of legal disclaimer; I've seen it in many places. (Read your car or home insurance policies for examples.) FIRST doesn't include riots, insurrections, or wars, as I have seen elsewhere, but the phrase about "other events" would cover these items as well.

Of course this phrasing does make sense--no one wants to be held responsible for the results of events for which they are not responsible!

I'm sure the Georgia World Congress Center writes similar phrases into all its contracts. Regarding the impact on the Championship, here are my thoughts:

Although the GWCC Hall C is in better shape than the other halls, this does not guarantee that it will be available to FIRST. The GWCC decision makers must minimize losses. From a business perspective, this means that they must first of all accommodate the clients who spend the most money. As large as the Championship seems to us, the pits only occupy part of Hall C. If a larger group (whose members spend freely on food, drink, and utilities) is planning to use all of Hall B, and it's still being repaired, the GWCC could decide to minimize losses by moving that group to Hall C and booting FIRST out, or by squeezing the pits into an uncomfortable space. One would hope that the contract would prevent such a move, and/or that the GWCC would try to minimize negative publicity by avoiding such actions.

Based on the news reports I've been reading, I believe that the GWCC folks will try their best to accommodate as many of its clients as it can, including FIRST. But who knows how quickly the buildings will be repaired?

If, in spite of our hopes, the Championship does not take place, no one will be able to blame either FIRST or the GWCC, because the tornado wasn't their fault. But I think there is reason to hope that things will be worked out satisfactorily.