New FIRST competition structure in Michigan

[JVN]

Originally Posted by Paul Copioli

There it is. Now, how many of you would actually ask to participate if it was open to you?

Paul

Paul,

I think your question is somewhat unreasonable, and will result in a flawed outcome. I know that IF we (148) wanted to participate in this program it would result in another layer of costs for us. Whereas many teams local to MI can participate without any significant expense.

In my mind, a better pair of questions are:

1. Do you believe participation in this program gives a team an advantage (competitive, financial or otherwise) over teams who play using the traditional cost/event structure?

2. If this program were piloted in your state, would you participate?

Answering these two questions helps put the "fairness" of the issue in perspective (for me). I won't editorialize, everyone can form their own opinions.

A new set of questions to further frame the discussion (in my mind):

3. If this program were rolled out nation-wide in 2010, would it provide ALL teams an advantage (financial, or otherwise)?

4. Do I care that MI teams could potentially receive an advantage this year, if it helps proof a model which would provide an advantage to ALL teams in 2010?

Hmm... yep, that made me think some more.
Then again... my big questions are still:

5. Will this new model work at all (even in MI)?

6. Can this model be applied beyond the (great) state of Michigan successfully?

I imagine the answer to #5 will be answered emphatically "yes" this season. I have the utmost faith in the incredible teams and volunteers from the Michigan area. As many of you know, I have a lot of friends up there; you big dogs will definitely pull this off, and make it look good.

However, that still doesn't really make me feel any good about #6. I don't think proving that this model works in Michigan will really help us apply it down here in Texas.

I am not an "event" person by any means; my experience is primarily limited to team support. However, I've been around the block enough times to know that Michigan may be the "perfect storm" which allows this cool new model to function successfully. I question how making this work under ideal conditions is going to help us change the face of the program under NON-ideal conditions. I wonder how the powers that be will implement this elsewhere.

Some food for thought.
-John