New FIRST competition structure in Michigan

[Ken Streeter]

Originally Posted by dlavery

What do you think?

My initial impression upon reading the announcement is that this would be a great year to be a team in Michigan! The proposed structure scales much better to eventually having a FIRST team in every high school, lowers cost for the bulk of participants, and results in more playing time for Michigan teams.

Michigan teams, for a lower initial entry fee then teams in other states, will get to attend two district events, rather than one regional event. This is a big benefit, as not only do these Michigan teams get more playing time for less money, but they have the opportunity to think about, and then fix, the robot in between the two district events. In order for teams in other states to have that opportunity, they need to register for not only one regional, but two regionals, at a total cost of $10000 - ($6000 for initial event; $4000 for the subsequent event.)

Seems to me that this would be a great year to be a Michigan team, as a Michigan team that in 2009 attended 2 regionals for a total cost of $10000 will likely be able to attend possibly as many as 4 tournaments for the same price. (2 Michigan district events, the Michigan championship (assuming they qualify), and an out-of-state event.) The savings for low-budget teams will be even greater -- a one-regional attendee in 2008 ($6000 total) will now be able to attend two district events (twice as much play time!) for significantly less than $6000, plus have time to think about (and then fix) the robot in between those two district events.

Hopefully the Michigan FIRST program will be able to realize some significant growth in 2009, plus make it possible for continued scalable growth in 2010!

I'm also very glad that the regional we attend in NH isn't abutting Michigan -- I think Michigan teams venturing out of state to late-season regionals will enjoy a significant advantage with respect to increased playing experience as compared with the non-Michigan teams at those same regionals. (The same holds true for the Michigan teams attending the Championships.)