[BB] Late Breaking News

[Jacob Paikoff]

The first thing I noticed was the dates, I think after this year FIRST is going back to a 6 week regional season.

or maybe we'll have a longer build season

[Pjohn1959]

What better place than "Jerry Land" in Dallas. Plenty of space and whoa... what a video screen!

[IndySam]

Wow and we knew Dean was going to be in St. Louis today.

Epic fail by us watchers and predictors.

Grats St. Louis

[JaneYoung]

Truth be known, I was root, root, rooting for Indianapolis. I know it would be a terrific experience for everyone involved, on board, and participating. Indiana has a way of making everyone feel welcome and happy and would make it an amazing Championship.

That said, I'm from St. Louis, Missouri, and I think I can safely say that although the experience will not be Disney or Atlanta or Indianapolis or on an aircraft carrier (really - how cool would that be?!?) - St. Louis has a lot going for it as a city. They will do their best to welcome all of us and to put on a great Championship - just as Atlanta has done and Disney World has done before them. Boy - Atlanta is going to be sentimental - I've only ever known the Championship in Atlanta. Wow.

Congratulations to the cities that put in bids as serious contenders and to the folks that had to make the hard (and probably difficult) decisions. Thank you!

Jane

[BrendanB]

Good thing no one took my bet....

Saint Louis sounds like fun though! Just hope to make it one of these years.

[Koko Ed]

So I kinda go to Indy for the championship....on my way to St. Louis.

[Katie_UPS]

For a brief moment, I felt as though this was the Brazil vs. Chicago tension for the olympics.

[Chris is me]

And I turned down Wash U...

St. Louis wasn't what I was expecting, but I'm sure it'll be a good show. Might actually be within driving distance for 1714.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by IndySam

Wow and we knew Dean was going to be in St. Louis today. ...

Dean's speaking engagement in St. Louis this evening had actually been on the calendar for months.

His talk was inspirational, as we have come to expect. Uncharacteristically, he devoted much of his time (over an hour) to a history of his major product developments -- followed by a very quick history of FIRST. The audience was spellbound. Most of us were long-time St. Louis FIRST participants, sponsors, and volunteers.

On a personal note: I first visted Deka in January 1996. My first time hearing Dean speak about why FIRST is needed was at Kick-Off the next morning, at the Center of New Hampshire, just up the street from Deka. Tonight's talk in St. Louis brought up many memories of that first time for me -- after all these years Dean is still on message, and the message still resonates.

[Jonathan Norris]

St. Louis sounds good to me, closer to drive then Atlanta. Glad to hear the walk to the floor will be shorter. I think we will all miss Atlanta, it is a great setup for the Championship, one that will be hard to match in St. Louis.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Mechkrunch

The first thing I noticed was the dates, I think after this year FIRST is going back to a 6 week regional season.

Maybe 7 weeks. Which makes some sense - if the district model expands a lot, can you have all the championships scheduled for just one weekend? Weeks 1-5 for districts, weeks 6-7 for championships. And for that matter, if you bag rather than ship, why can't the first events be the same week as bag/ship day?

[McGurky]

Not bad, this decision cut our teams potential driving time in half!!!!!