2009 Regional Dates Announced (Unofficial)

[BornaE]

From Bills Place:

Good Afternoon Teams

I’m pleased to say we are very close to finalizing the Regional Event schedule. A few of the venue contracts are still in the works so the schedule may change slightly. (I sure hope it doesn’t.) Event names may also change as development continues to work with our sponsors. So here's what I know so far. Pull out your calendars and start planning for another exciting competition season.

120 days until kickoff
174 days until the first Regional Events

See you then.

Week 1 Feb 25-28
BAE Systems Granite State Regional
Midwest Regional
New Jersey Regional
Oklahoma City Regional
Buckeye Regional
Greater Kansas City Regional
Washington DC Regional

Week 2 Mar 4-7
Oregon Regional
Boston Regional
Finger Lakes Regional
New York City Regional -2 fields
San Diego Regional

Week 3 Mar 11-14
Los Angeles Regional
Pittsburgh Regional
Wisconsin Regional
Peachtree Regional
Silicon Valley Regional
Florida Regional
Dallas Regional

Week 3.5 Mar 16-18
Israel Regional

Week 4 Mar 18-21
Boilermaker Regional
Chesapeake Regional - TBD
Arizona Regional
Bayou Regional
NASA/VCU Regional
Waterloo Regional
Microsoft Seattle Regional
New Zealand Regional (Mar 17-21)
Philadelphia Regional
St. Louis Regional

Week 5 Mar 25-28
UC Davis Sacramento Regional
Houston Regional
Palmetto Regional
SBPLI Long Island Regional
Greater Toronto Regional
Connecticut Regional
Las Vegas Regional
Colorado Regional
Hawaii Regional

Week 6 Apr 1-4
Minnesota 10,000 Lakes Regional
Minnesota North Star Regional
Michigan State Championship

[Robostang 548]

I see the Michigan state championship on there, but when will the other Michigan dates be announced?

[artdutra04]

There are some serious shakeups in this schedule; Boston is now in week two and Connecticut is now in week five...

[BornaE]

Arizona is week 4 now instead of week 2

[Koko Ed]

Time to start planning the vacation time!
(ARRRGH! Boston is happening the same week as FLR! WHY!?)

Tentative plans:
Week 1. DC
Week 2 FLR
Week 3 Florida (duh!)
Week 4 Philadelphia may choose St. Louis or Bayou.
Week 5 GTR
Week 6 Michigan Championship

[AndyB]

Minnesota Double Regional! Wow. Now to figure out which one to register for...

[Akash Rastogi]

I'm a little unhappy about the way the regionals are scheduled. NYC is week 2 now which removes it from our options (week before is NJ)

But I am glad to see Palmetto in week 5. Hope to give South Carolina a little visit and see 1251 there as well.

[kjhobin]

If you pay the extra to ship, it is entirly possible to get your robot from Trenton to NYC (Trust me, 555 did it form New Orleans to NYC)

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by kjhobin

If you pay the extra to ship, it is entirly possible to get your robot from Trenton to NYC (Trust me, 555 did it form New Orleans to NYC)

Its not the shipping, just timing for our mentors. We try to get in at least a 2 week break for students to catch up on schoolwork especially when most of these kids are all honors/ AP students. Two straight weeks takes a lot out of you and out of school time even if you get work in advance.

[andrew348]

I hate Boston & New York City in the same week!

[Joe J.]

It's very disappointing to see the Michigan District events missing from this schedule. With all the controversy over the Michigan District Pilot, I see this as yet another set back for Michigan teams. All events should have been announced at the same time. What little faith I had the the Michigan District Pilot & FIRST in Michigan is fading.

[Michelle Celio]

If they were "officially announced" then why aren't they appearing in VIMS?

Also, why are the 2008 event days up on "Whats going on in my area?"

This may reflect some of the Event Dates, but I'm taking them with a grain of salt for now. Expecially following the quote below:

I’m pleased to say we are very close to finalizing the Regional Event schedule. A few of the venue contracts are still in the works so the schedule may change slightly. (I sure hope it doesn’t.)

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by Joe J.

It's very disappointing to see the Michigan District events missing from this schedule. With all the controversy over the Michigan District Pilot, I see this as yet another set back for Michigan teams. All events should have been announced at the same time. What little faith I had the the Michigan District Pilot & FIRST in Michigan is fading.

I definitely agree with that...I saw the title of this thread, got really excited because I wanted to see where the regionals are being held/where we might be going, and then I was pretty disappointed that the MI ones weren't there

But...They might still be planning where all of the MI regionals are going to take place, and that's why they're not up yet. Still, all of the regionals should have been "announced" at the same time.

[Cow Bell Solo]

Originally Posted by AndyB

Minnesota Double Regional! Wow. Now to figure out which one to register for...

My question on this is it two fields in one area, or are there two different places in MN that will be having regional events at the same time?

[RMiller]

Originally Posted by Cow Bell Solo

My question on this is it two fields in one area, or are there two different places in MN that will be having regional events at the same time?

My understanding is that the will be on the Minneapolis University of Minnesota campus. One in Williams Arena where is was this year and one in Mariucci Arena.

Last I heard about numbers of MN teams was this: last year there were 54 teams (38 rookies, 14 second year teams, a third year team, and a fourth year team). From my understanding, there shouldn't be any loss of teams. Beyond that, there were at least 20+ teams already planning to start a team during the late spring time frame. As was mentioned previously, there were enough teams from the Dakotas and Minnesota, that not all those teams could go to Minneapolis. On top of that, only five teams from outside the Dakotas and MN were able to come.
That is the reason for the multiple regionals. I didn't realize though that they decided to go that route versus a super regional.