Venues Listed

[Christine G.]

The venues have been posted for this years competitions. Looks like the CT regional is back to the Meadows Music Theater.

The Florida regional has also been moved from KSC to the University of Central Florida.

[Rob Colatutto]

they still haven't determined when the NYC regional is.... hope its the week before UTC new england

[Jon K.]

I am sure that UTC would have put it back at the Collesium only problem is, it is now closed permenantly and with be demoshiled date unknown.

[Mike Schroeder]

I am glad they moved Rutgers to the RAC ( Rutgers Athletic Center) now more teams can enter and the toughest regional will become tougher

[Erin Rapacki]

Yea, the New Haven Colleseum will be knocked down, difficult to have a Regional in a pile of rubble. The Meadows would be OK if they didn't let the Regional get as big as it usually gets, too bad they couldn't get the Hartford Civic Center. I remember, back in the day, (early 90's, I was little)... when UTC companies would rent out the Civic Center for a huge employee Christmas Party/Circus thing... so getting it is not impossilbe, just unlikely.

[sanddrag]

How are the event sites for the regionals you all attend? I've only been to the LA one which was held at the LA Memorial Sports Arena. This whole place is falling apart. Wiring hanging below the cieling inches above your head, dirty run down bathrooms, little piles of construction debris everywhere, dust, numerous holes in walls/ceiling, poor lighting, and giant steel I beam cross braces welded in so the place wouldn't collapse. I think you can understand that this isn't the prettiest place and it doesn't really promote FIRST too well to outsiders coming to watch. Why couldn't they have it at the LA Convention Center or the Pasadena Convention center or any of the other large places in So Cal. Is it that it needs to be an arena config. for people to watch?

[Rob Colatutto]

the site for the sbpli long island regional is very nice. they have it at a nearby college and we get their huge gym to use. fits all the teams very nicely, since there is only about 36 teams that attend

[Joe Ross]

Originally posted by sanddrag
Why couldn't they have it at the LA Convention Center or the Pasadena Convention center or any of the other large places in So Cal. Is it that it needs to be an arena config. for people to watch?

$$$$$$$

USC owns the Sports Arena (IIRC). They are also a sponsor of the LA regional.

As for venues, I didn't think LA was that bad in 2001, except for the very short queue for teams.

I've also been to San Jose, both when it was at SJSU and Moffet field, and also to the NYC regional. They all had thier problems, and I would say that LA was no worse then the others.

[Ian W.]

SBPLI was great. pits were about a 3 second walk from the field, the queing line was quite literally, right next to 810's pit. it didn't get much better . the queing area was a little small, and always crowded, but not too bad. there was plenty of space to get around, and the facilities were spotless (Well, until we came ).
NYC was not as great. the pits were all the way down some halllway to the middle of nowhere. the pits were very crowded, unless you were one of about 4 rookie teams (810 included) who were against the far wall. to get from pits to the field was worse than an african safari. a narrow hallway, just big enough to fit two robots side by side (quite literally, just big enough), with wires all over. people running back and forth made for a hard time to get to the field or back to the pits. the field itself was very nice, being in an arena and all .
by far, the worst part of NYC was that old lady doing the announcments in the pits. she did not embody the spirit of FIRST.
old lady: "Team 810, i called you 5 minutes ago! get you're arses out to the field!"
over time she was beaten down and realized defeat, and then it was much better. kudos to the team with the stereo system on the robot cart .

all in all, the venues weren't that bad, but of course, nothing is perfect (except for any robot that michael designs, but that's another story), so there is always room for improvement. i just wish we could still have team parties now....

[Cory]

I think San Jose was pretty nice. It is a very nice facility, pits are fairly close to the queing area. Pits could stand to be bigger, but they could be at every competition.