Super Regional

[Racer26]

Am I the only one that would like to see the return of the Super Regional format?

This format was used in 2004, and IIRC 2005 at the then Canadian Regional (now Greater Toronto Regional).

It was a Regional with 2 fields. There were ~85ish teams there, IIRC. Matches would run on Field 1, and then after the match, while Field 1 is resetting, a match would run on Field 2.

16 Elimination Alliances were run on an extended bracket.

GTR returned to a standard regional format in 2006 due to the reduced team count as many of the teams elected to go to Waterloo Regional only.

I don't recall if GTR (or by its former name Canadian Regional) is the only event to have ever been held with this structure or not.

[Chris is me]

There was a "super regional opportunity" in 2009 with the Minnesota situation, but they opted for two regionals running simultaneously, across the street from each other. I think the superevent is unlikely to come back.

[dtengineering]

I was at the GTR for two or three of those "super regional" years, and it was great. The continuous action on the playing fields and huge crowds in the stands made for a little taste of Atlanta... without having to qualify or fly there.

It is interesting how trends change, though... several years ago, the Portland regional was our "little" competition, and Toronto was the "big deal".

Now both Portland and Seattle have more teams than Toronto this year. The growth of teams in the Pacific Northwest over the past two or three years has been incredible. The "level of competition" has also increased, and while we have yet to see a Pacific Northwest team win it all in Atlanta, we're seeing more and more teams from this area advance ever farther through their divisional playoffs. If that trend continues, I'd have to say that Memorial Colliseum in Portland has everything that it would take to pull off a very successful "super regional". I suspect the pit area there could handle close to 100 teams with ease.

It would be great to have a truly massive FRC event on this side of the continent.

As far as the level of competition goes, the Michigan championships strike me as a model for having a very, very competitive event. They might not be a "super regional" in number of teams, but having each team have to qualify to be there means that everyone (should) hit the ground running with a very limited number of "box bots". That sounds pretty super to me.

And on a far smaller scale, we'll be hosting what might be the first VEX "super regional" at the BC championships on March 20th. With over 50 teams expected to register we'll be splitting them into two divisions... one for more competitive teams that have had success at the previous four area VEX events, and one for teams that have gotten off to a slower start this year. The competitive division should be a great tune up for teams heading to Dallas, while I know there will be many teams in the other division that will come away enthused, energized and infinitely more experienced for next year's competitions.

Jason

[Kate00]

The Superregional format was pretty cool. Here's exactly how it was set up.

Originally Posted by 1075guy

Am I the only one that would like to see the return of the Super Regional format?

This format was used in 2004, and IIRC 2005 at the then Canadian Regional (now Greater Toronto Regional).

It was used in 2004 and 2006, for FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar and Aim High.

It was a Regional with 2 fields. There were ~85ish teams there, IIRC. Matches would run on Field 1, and then after the match, while Field 1 is resetting, a match would run on Field 2.

In 2004 there were 75 teams and in 2006 there were 74.

16 Elimination Alliances were run on an extended bracket.

2004 there were 16 alliances (without serpentine), and in 2006 (with serpentine) it was brought down to 12 alliances. Many teams were not fans of the 16-team elimination bracket as it created weaker alliances all around, leading to the compromise in 2006.

Also, for many awards there were doubles given out. Team Spirit, General Motors Industrial Design, Motorola Quality, Imagery, and the big one, Rookie All Star Award.


I was at the event in 2006. I did enjoy the double event - it was very spectator-friendly, and having some of the teams who came up from the US for it (217, 65, 45, 229, 703) in 2006 there was really very cool and inspiring. I've said this before on these boards, but being on an alliance with Ken Patton as a coach for one of the other teams was one of the neatest moments in my FIRST career. The number of matches we were able to get in, even with the huge amount of teams, was great.

I wasn't a fan of the expanded elimination rounds, even with the 12 - in my opinion the combination of that and the serpentine draft, even with the level of awesome teams at the top, really lowered the quality of some of the quarterfinal matches. That was the only real issue I had with it.

The return of the superregional would be neat to see, but whether or not it does, GTR will always be a great event!

[Dancin103]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

Am I the only one that would like to see the return of the Super Regional format?

This format was used in 2004, and IIRC 2005 at the then Canadian Regional (now Greater Toronto Regional).

It was a Regional with 2 fields. There were ~85ish teams there, IIRC. Matches would run on Field 1, and then after the match, while Field 1 is resetting, a match would run on Field 2.

16 Elimination Alliances were run on an extended bracket.

GTR returned to a standard regional format in 2006 due to the reduced team count as many of the teams elected to go to Waterloo Regional only.

I don't recall if GTR (or by its former name Canadian Regional) is the only event to have ever been held with this structure or not.

I would LOVE to see this again somewhere. There was talk of doing this in NYC and in CT. Nothing really came through. It's just hard to place your team when cheering, it's almost a back and forth. I think they did this in Jersey once upon a time a time ago, I think I'm right about this.

Cass

[dodar]

I remember in '08 hearing about making Florida a superregional because of the new arena at UCF would give us 2 arenas but it never happened, but i think that would be awesome to see

[nikeairmancurry]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

As far as the level of competition goes, the Michigan championships strike me as a model for having a very, very competitive event. They might not be a "super regional" in number of teams, but having each team have to qualify to be there means that everyone (should) hit the ground running with a very limited number of "box bots". That sounds pretty super to me.

As being a driver and person apart of this for the first year, it sure did feel like a super regional. It felt like the championship with just more matches. Its scary to know that there were very expirenced teams not in elminations.
But for the idea of having a super regional like GTR. I would love to see this, for many years I would have hoped that they could have tried this in michigan where there were 100+ teams, also not counting how many teams travel from canada, ohio and illionis. Yet still something I would love to see again.

[Rizner]

Originally Posted by dodar

I remember in '08 hearing about making Florida a superregional because of the new arena at UCF would give us 2 arenas but it never happened, but i think that would be awesome to see

yeah, I remember hearing something along these lines as well.

[Nawaid Ladak]

Originally Posted by dodar

I remember in '08 hearing about making Florida a superregional because of the new arena at UCF would give us 2 arenas but it never happened, but i think that would be awesome to see

There were rumors as far back as 2007. when the construction of the arena was on schedule... For those of you who have not been to the Florida Regional since 2007. The field and black curtain only take up about ~40% of the total floorspace in the arena. (the pits were actually in the same building in 2008) The arena (and pits, now located in the old UCF arena, where the regional was held from 2003-2007) can easily hold two fields with 80-85 teams.

I've loved this idea with a passion ever since i saw it in 2006 at GTR (the webcast was amazing to watch. nonstop action all the time).

To get the teams for a event like this is the truly difficult part. I can only see a few area's with enough FIRST teams to support this. The Pacific Northwest, Lone-Star, NYC and possibly somewhere in New England, and Minnesota. I don't see GTR happening again because of the lack of US teams attending (partially thanks to the MI District Events and the way the economy is right now.)