Bills Blog - You're going to want to look closely at the diagram

[Tom Line]

Assuming a sitting person occupies a 3' x 3' space (which is fairly conservative), those bleachers will hold 400 people a piece. That's 800 people, with 88 teams in attendance. That's 9 people per team, and goodness knows it's not going to be anywhere near actually fitting that amount.

We have a team of 30+ students. Including parents, it's going to be over 50. There will be room for perhaps 6 of our team members, assuming no one gets there early and takes more than their 'fair share'.

We will have to come up with some fairly creative means of scouting and making sure all our kids get what they paid for. I feel VERY sorry for the fields that play their elims there who won't get to cheer for their team.

[vhcook]

Originally Posted by rtfgnow

What I notice:

Scholarship/College Row is no where to be seen.

I see scholarship row on the border between the FTC pits and Archimedes, although it's labelled in a small blue font. Does anybody see where the FIRST Conference rooms are?

[elemental]

Originally Posted by vhcook

I see scholarship row on the border between the FTC pits and Archimedes, although it's labelled in a small blue font. Does anybody see where the FIRST Conference rooms are?

I believe the conference rooms will be on the second floor.

Anyone see the FRC interview rooms?

[Katie_UPS]

They still have yet to mention the Wrap-Up/Finale/whatever you call it party...

[artdutra04]

After seeing the size of those bleachers, there better be a REALLY, REALLY good reason why all four divisions aren't in the dome.

Otherwise this will likely join the Houston ramps for ideas that shall forever reside in infamy.

[Boydean]

Is it just me or is this blog update very underwhelming?

They didn't even release the Dome layout. At this point why keep it a secret (although there might be contract binding issues)? We all know that half the dome is going to be taken up with a stage for a performance by a certain someone that we all may or may not agree should be performing.

[Racer26]

Didn't Bill tell us he'd say today why the 2 fields were moved out of the dome? I see no mention...

[rmhooks573]

i feel like, there really is not a need to panic right now. there is so much "guesstimation" about how the whole thing will come together with not 100$ of the info. with FIRST there are always some kind of things to leave you guessing. so i think i may just sit back until 1 week from now so when i see it, my eyes will fall out from taking it all in at once

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by rmhooks573

so i think i may just sit back until 1 week from now so when i see it, my eyes will fall out from taking it all in at once

Duct tape could help with that. (joke)

Jane

[XaulZan11]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

After seeing the size of those bleachers, there better be a REALLY, REALLY good reason why all four divisions aren't in the dome.

Is a concert that a significant amount of teams will skip for scouting meetings a good enough reason for teams to be squeezed into bleachers or unable to watch their own matches?

I'm concerned why they haven't released more information about Friday night. We're almost a week away and still no information other than "some preformance". Either they are keeping it a suprise (making it difficult for teams to plan) or don't have all the information set (which is scary considering we're a week away).

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

After seeing the size of those bleachers, there better be a REALLY, REALLY good reason why all four divisions aren't in the dome.

Otherwise this will likely join the Houston ramps for ideas that shall forever reside in infamy.

Hey now - I bet even Houston didn't have this much speculation. It certainly has had its share of criticism but the speculation aspect of this event at this day and time is phenomenal, just phenomenal.

I think the greeters at the airport, hotels, and venue are awesome. Love that! St. Louis has really been promoting this event ever since winning the bid. I think they are very excited to be hosting the teams from all over the world. That's way cool.

Jane

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Otherwise this will likely join the Houston ramps for ideas that shall forever reside in infamy.

I'm quietly hoping that if it's really bad, it's bad enough to surpass and overshadow the Houston ramps. Cause I'm really kinda tired of hearing about them at this point...

As to why there's only 2 divisions in the Dome.... Check the Team Guide A-Z under "FIRST Sponsored Team Events". Note Friday's "staged entertainment performance". I think that explains everything right there.

If we are subjected to a concert, I know most or all of my team will be heading out before it even starts. 8:30 is laaaaate. Pits close at 7, and there's dinner to eat and strategizing and scouting to be done. And then bed so we have a chance of being in our pit by 7 the next morning. I'm... not optimistic about the attendance for this "staged entertainment performance". Though I suppose an empty house would be a pretty strong argument against it next year.

Finally, I'm really looking forward to the traffic jam in the Curie pits on Friday. Between Archie teams queuing 5 matches deep on the pit field and Curie traffic to/from the Dome through Galileo..... Yeah, that sounds like loads of fun. Here's hoping they don't flip coins and decide Archie should actually play on Newton's field.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

I'm quietly hoping that if it's really bad, it's bad enough to surpass and overshadow the Houston ramps. Cause I'm really kinda tired of hearing about them at this point...

As to why there's only 2 divisions in the Dome.... Check the Team Guide A-Z under "FIRST Sponsored Team Events". Note Friday's "staged entertainment performance". I think that explains everything right there.

If we are subjected to a concert, I know most or all of my team will be heading out before it even starts. 8:30 is laaaaate. Pits close at 7, and there's dinner to eat and strategizing and scouting to be done. And then bed so we have a chance of being in our pit by 7 the next morning. I'm... not optimistic about the attendance for this "staged entertainment performance". Though I suppose an empty house would be a pretty strong argument against it next year.

Finally, I'm really looking forward to the traffic jam in the Curie pits on Friday. Between Archie teams queuing 5 matches deep on the pit field and Curie traffic to/from the Dome through Galileo..... Yeah, that sounds like loads of fun. Here's hoping they don't flip coins and decide Archie should actually play on Newton's field.

Saying that no one would care to see a Black Eyed Peas concert is like saying teams would pass on going to Disney when the competition was finished. While we on CD are hardcore about FIRST most kids involved with FIRST come off as not as intense about it as we tend to get. Alot of kids are just out for a good time at the events and going to a free concert that would probably cost them $100 sounds like a pretty good deal to be honest. I expect alot of people to be there actually.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Saying that no one would care to see a Black Eyed Peas concert is like saying teams would pass on going to Disney when the competition was finished.

Actually, the latter apparently wasn't so far from the truth at Vex Worlds. I heard that event staff anticipated teams would go to Disney after their elimination from the tournament, but apparently the stadium remained packed all the way through.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Actually, the latter apparently wasn't so far from the truth at Vex Worlds. I heard that event staff anticipated teams would go to Disney after their elimination from the tournament, but apparently the stadium remained packed all the way through.

There are some differences between how that event was set up and how FIRST events at Walt Disney World were arranged. Many, many people spent a lot of time in the theme parks; some even before their teams were eliminated.