Thoughts from an Outsider

[Ken Patton]

Originally Posted by Tstone

I think the reality is that the event is becoming a true EVENT with specators and a lot of people who don't know a thing about the sport showing up. It's not ingrained into our culture, like other sports, so there is not the cultural support network that exists for like when new people showing up at other sporting events. This probably means that FIRST needs to start thinking about the event as (perish the thought) entertainment, so thinking about revamping the venue to be more specator friendly is someting they may want to think about for next year and beyond.

Welcome!

I hope FIRST reads this. You have some great observations, and if we are to become a spectator sport some day, these things will have to happen.

I know its not going to be cheaper or easier to do it, but could you imagine a more multimedia event, where there is an additional screen in the arena listing the stats: a team info page, a current rankings page, a FYI page, etc...

Of course, the students are already way ahead of us here. When I was at Buckeye, I saw a student from 1126 use her iPhone to bring up the realtime rankings. Then she schooled me on the rules - again displaying on her phone - when I incorrectly described the definition of hurdling (thanks for the education Liz)!

When you go to a baseball game (btw its opening day!), there are often trivia questions, etc. on the big screen. Maybe FIRST could do a couple of canned trivia questions to help educate the spectators between matches.

Ken