2009 Dallas Regional

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

That aside, if we can bring back some of the defunct FRC teams from the area, it'd be great. Even so, it looks like there are 11 Texas FRC teams for which this event will be closer than the Houston event, and it will be closer for 12 of the teams total that went to Houston last year. There's 39 OK teams, 1 AR team, and 2 LA teams that will find Dallas closer than Houston.

What do you think the regional capacity might be? Especially with the draw of a new regional, 148 might want to invite some of our friends from the north to come compete.

Remember that the Dallas regional isn't even guaranteed to grab those 11 closer teams. The vast majority of teams can only afford to attend one regional, and a surprising number of Texas teams depend on Houston Robotics grants to attend LSR. I'm not 100% certain how that's going to play out with a second Texas regional, but I'd be surprised if the grant didn't mandate LSR attendance. So unless Dallas can offset that, you'll probably still see teams driving right through DFW to get to Houston.

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

From looking at the Regional listing -

OKC had 39 with one opening
LSR had 46 and was full. I'm not sure how different that has been at Reliant.
Bayou had 46 with 8 openings.
So - Bayou had 54 slots available...

LSR had 52 teams in 2007. I'd guess capacity for 2009 would be 52+ teams. Possibly a lot more depending on how the venues work out.

As for the Dallas regional, based on the rumors I'm hearing for the venue, the arena floor is going to be even smaller than it was at LSR this year. I'd guess 36 teams max unless they have plans for pits outside the arena proper.

[GaryVoshol]

OK got 27 rookie teams. MN got 30, plus 15 2nd year teams.

All you have to do to fill up the new Dallas regional is organize 20 or 30 rookie teams. Knowing that there is a local regional, that might be easier to do than you think. It depends on organization.

Some teams will travel to Dallas as their second regional, depending on what week their home regional is. You might even get a few teams from "up north".

[Pavan Dave]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

OK got 27 rookie teams. MN got 30, plus 15 2nd year teams.

All you have to do to fill up the new Dallas regional is organize 20 or 30 rookie teams. Knowing that there is a local regional, that might be easier to do than you think. It depends on organization.

Some teams will travel to Dallas as their second regional, depending on what week their home regional is. You might even get a few teams from "up north".

Well if financial reasons is the main reason some teams went down I don't think the "travel" expenses would be the biggest bill since students usually cover their own travel on most teams (or so they say). Apparently one of the one liners UTDallas tries to use on students is something along the of "(insert large number that I can't think of right now) number of technology companies are within (a very small number) miles of the University for purposes of internships, etc. I wonder if these companies are going to participate in the FIRST Robotics program.


Pavan

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[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

OK got 27 rookie teams. MN got 30, plus 15 2nd year teams.

All you have to do to fill up the new Dallas regional is organize 20 or 30 rookie teams. Knowing that there is a local regional, that might be easier to do than you think. It depends on organization.

Some teams will travel to Dallas as their second regional, depending on what week their home regional is. You might even get a few teams from "up north".

That's true, but that's assuming there's funding available somewhere for 20-30 rookie teams and that there are 20-30 schools in the area that would be more likely to go to a Dallas regional. As Pavan said, the South is still building up teams, and I'm just not sure that adding a new regional right now is a great idea. Till will certainly tell, however.

[lynca]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

OK got 27 rookie teams. MN got 30, plus 15 2nd year teams.

All you have to do to fill up the new Dallas regional is organize 20 or 30 rookie teams. Knowing that there is a local regional, that might be easier to do than you think. It depends on organization.

Since most people on this thread seem out of the loop on who's running the Dallas Regional, I'll just go ahead and ask,

Who in Texas is working with FIRST to run the Dallas regional ?

Where is the money coming from to fund new teams ? NASA grants , ... or something else ?

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze

Looking forward to some day being able to compete in three or four regional events and never leave the State

You Texans have always been jealous of California...

[Amanda Morrison]

Originally Posted by lynca

Since most people on this thread seem out of the loop on who's running the Dallas Regional, I'll just go ahead and ask,

Who in Texas is working with FIRST to run the Dallas regional ?

Where is the money coming from to fund new teams ? NASA grants , ... or something else ?

The Dallas area has their own Regional Director (we have since around December-ish? Maybe even before). I know he's already recruited some help. Should know more next week.

[Tazlikesrobots]

Originally Posted by lynca

Since most people on this thread seem out of the loop on who's running the Dallas Regional, I'll just go ahead and ask,

Who in Texas is working with FIRST to run the Dallas regional ?

Where is the money coming from to fund new teams ? NASA grants , ... or something else ?

There are several people working with the regional director in Dallas. I had the opportunity to meet them a few months ago and I think they have a good grasp on what it is going to take in order to get the regional organized.

[Nawaid Ladak]

i'll come to Dallas if it's not the same week as Florida, i would love to visit my hometown once again