Location Suggestion for 2010 Championship

[Steven Sigley]

I don't know how early FIRST has to get in their requests, but if we could host the Championship in the New Dallas Cowboys Stadium

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Cowboys_New_Stadium

That would be a mind-blowing experience.
A giant screen in the middle to display Einstein field, plus plenty of room for the growth of FIRST: from 80-100,000 seats

Do you think this would be a feasible idea?

[EricH]

Is there a building large enough for the pits nearby? (I.E., closer than the Astrodome to the Reliant.) If not, then it isn't feasible, unless there's a LOT of empty space in the stadium.

Yeah, I suppose you could do a tent village for the pits, but anyone who went to a pre-2003 Championship will probably not be happy at the suggestion.

[Nawaid Ladak]

aye: lets go back to DISNEY if it's possible...

but the new playhouse would be great.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by EricH

Is there a building large enough for the pits nearby? (I.E., closer than the Astrodome to the Reliant.) If not, then it isn't feasible, unless there's a LOT of empty space in the stadium.

Yeah, I suppose you could do a tent village for the pits, but anyone who went to a pre-2003 Championship will probably not be happy at the suggestion.

How come? I thought the tents were pretty cool in 2002 (my only year I went to Epcot). FIRST has grown far too large for it to work going forward though.

I have no knowledge of the bid process for the championship but I suspect it's too late for any newcomers. If it's leaving Atlanta I'd have to imagine FIRST already has a preferred location and negotiations with the city are under way.

I also suspect it's not going much if any farther west than Atlanta. Leaving the middle of the country makes it much more difficult for the majority of teams to get there.

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by Nawaid Ladak

aye: lets go back to DISNEY if it's possible...

but the new playhouse would be great.

I never knew that a Championship was held there. I forgot, I've only been in the program for 4 years.

[Sunbun]

Extremely wild idea...

How feasible would it be to have the Championship held in Canada?

[artdutra04]

Do you think this would be a feasible idea?

In short, no.

While you may be able to fit all of the teams, pits, etc. either in their new stadium or in the parking lots around it, it would not be feasible to host the Championships there. Do a search on Google Maps for "hotels near Dallas Cowboys New Stadium". There is no way you can fit 30,000 people in hotels within walking distance, since there is only two hotels within a one mile radius.

Now you can expand this radius if the stadium is along a public transit route, as hotels around all nearby stations/stops are all feasible if there is a discount given to FIRST teams (as there is in Atlanta with MARTA). Since I can see no obvious high-capacity public transit rail lines near the stadium, I cannot feasibly see a way where this would be possible (short of setting up dozens of shuttle buses on a continuous loop), which would be a very expensive and time consuming burden.

Now regardless of one's opinions of Atlanta, the city is perfectly situated to host the Championships. They have a large stadium with more adjacent convention center space than one can shake a stick at. The stadium is right in a downtown area with dozens of hotels within a one mile walking distance. In addition, the GA Dome has its own MARTA station, greatly expanding the feasible hotel radius. Atlanta is generally warm during April, and is also a major hub for many [International] airlines (which can lead to cheaper plane ticket prices).

Now in the past, Disney also suited these goals well: They had plenty of hotel space, a dedicated high capacity bus/monorail transit system, a warm climate, located in popular destination (Orlando) only a short 20 minute drive from an International Airport, and the fact that it was Walt Disney World definitely helped. But FIRST kind of outgrew the temporary tents they would have to build in the Epcot parking lot, so FIRST had to look elsewhere... :-/

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Sunbun

Extremely wild idea...

How feasible would it be to have the Championship held in Canada?

I can't ever see a situation in which it could happen.

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by Sunbun

Extremely wild idea...

How feasible would it be to have the Championship held in Canada?

Most of the teams are out of the U.S. I like Canada anyways, WestEd Mall here I come.

[ttldomination]

I think we should keep the championships in GA. The World Congress Center provides a great place for pits, while the GA Dome is right next to center. The Dome can comfortably seat a LOT of people.

If we do want to try and grow, and try a "change", I was in Florida, when I was able to take a quick peek at the Orange County Convention center, (I think that's what it's called). The facility is state of the art and it's humongous. It has different wings, (North, South, East, and West) and it would more than suffice for a world championship.

[Wayne C.]

Originally Posted by Nawaid Ladak

aye: lets go back to DISNEY if it's possible...

Amen to that. From the point of a coach who arranges the trip and needs to occupy and account for the students in the off hours Disney was the ideal "family" location. I know of NUMEROUS other coaches who agree with this. Is anybody listening?

WC

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by Wayne C.

Amen to that. From the point of a coach who arranges the trip and needs to occupy and account for the students in the off hours Disney was the ideal "family" location. I know of NUMEROUS other coaches who agree with this. Is anybody listening?

WC

I think that everyone would like to go, but i heard the tents were the problem. So how do we fix that.

[Michelle Celio]

Originally Posted by Wayne C.

Amen to that. From the point of a coach who arranges the trip and needs to occupy and account for the students in the off hours Disney was the ideal "family" location. I know of NUMEROUS other coaches who agree with this. Is anybody listening?

WC

Being from the Greater Orlando Area, I can try to put a perspective on this.

There are two venues in the state of Florida, in the Orlando area, that could possibly be able to house the Championship.

There is one venue in the Kissimmee, The Silver Spurs Arena, that would be perfect, it would have less of a walk from the pits to the fields but we run into a lack of hotels for the teams in that area. However, as previously mentioned in the thread, when the consideration about hosting it in TX came up, we run into the same problem. Which is the lack of hotels. But, in the Kissimme and Orlando area, there is the Linx Bus System that is fairly inexpensive, and they do have 1-week passes available, the only thing is that they aren't heavily reliable and possibly could not handel the amount of traffic produced by the Championship.

Again, as mentioned earlier in the thread is the Orange County Convention Center. This place is HUGE. I High School, we went on a tour of just part of it, but I have not been able to see the entire place. There is defiantly enough room for the pits, and whatever FIRST wants to do that is convention style but I'm not exactly sure if they have a "stadium" of sorts where the field and spectators could easily view the matches. But, according to google maps, if you search "Orange County Convention Center" and "Hotels" and narrow it down to a "1 mile" radius, it says there are 717 hotels. That number seems a bit outrageous to me but the Orlando area is heavily populated with hotels.

Now, as for "Family Location". Have we looked at Disney Prices lately? They are not exactly family friendly. A base ticket, with expiration costs 79.88 for a one day ticket, and does not include park hopping. I'm sure they offer some sort of deal for large groups, but it probably won't be that much lower.


But hey, there is always the 2009 Florida Regional - and Disney is giving a free ticket to everyone in 2009, as long as it is your birthday.

[M. Mellott]

I know in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Convention Center was part of the RCA dome. Plenty of hotels were directly connected to the building, and the CC could handle the pits easily (hey, it handled 2 world-wide Star Wars conventions without a problem).

However, now that the Colts have moved to their new stadium next door, I don't know if the new stadium has a similar setup, or what the plan is for the CC at the old RCA dome. Anyone from IN know?

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by Michelle Celio

atches. But, according to google maps, if you search "Orange County Convention Center" and "Hotels" and narrow it down to a "1 mile" radius, it says there are 717 hotels. That number seems a bit outrageous to me but the Orlando area is heavily populated with hotels.

The Reason I mentioned the Convention center was mainly because of the number of living arrangements. There is also a great entertainment area as I believe International Dr. also is close by and it is pretty great as far as fun goes.

I'm not sure either about an stadium. It would be interesting to see what happens.