Yea so we were talking about the opening of our new High School and we are just beginning to realize how large it actually is. We were playing around with the idea of having a 40 - 50 team after season competition at our new school and was wondering if anyone would be interested in something like this. We would have 2 or possibly 3 fields set up and have the matches on all fields. This was just an idea that could potentially happen if we get enough teams interested. Again, this is nothing official just trying to get some ideas…
Sounds like a great idea, but don’t get too far ahead of yourselves. It’s tough enough to run a very small off season event. Trying to run a 50 team event with multiple fields would be VERY tough. Not to mention you need to have insurance for the value of all 3 fields, which totals $150,000.
Much better to start small and then work your way up over a few years so that you can have a successful event that continues on instead of trying to do too much and failing.
Since we’re on the subject of off-seasons…can anyone who’s done one give a ballpark figure on the total cost to get a FIRST field to and from New Hampshire, insured and everything?
Shipping may cost a few thousand dollars and so may insurance.
As for the NJ off season competition, there are many post-season competitions in that area and that could be a good or bad thing (good: teams will want to go to another offseason OR bad: teams already go to enough off seasons and won’t want another one) I’d research into that.
This idea seems to resemble a superregional and will bring a nationals-like experience to those who will never have a chance to go. I really have to applaud the idea.
I think that if you contact the teams behind other local off-seasons, they would be able to help you get this started. If you guys don’t have problems with space, they don’t have problems with experience and logistics, etc., there is a possibility of creating the best off-season ever made.
It makes sense that a number of local off-seasons could be rolled into this one (ie Brunswick Eruption, Duel on the Delaware). It will have a real feel to it, and I wish you the best of luck.
Its great that everybody likes the idea of having these off season competitions but I can tell you from experience that they are not a simple affair to put together. After three years of running Brunswick Eruption we have yet to attract more than 25 or so teams who want to play. And that is with the cheapest enrollment cost in the area.
Each year we have a team of 20-30 adults behind the scenes operating things with the entire membership of Raider Robotix and numerous friends of the team working at the event. Planning has already begun for next fall’s event.
We have been very fortunate to have the support of Mike Wade and Pete Baltzell over the past few years and their NASA field has been the answer to our prayers. But I can’t imagine them adding more and more events to their already busy schedule. So any event would probably rely on a FIRST field- an expensive proposition.
Could the region support yet another off season? A super event? Unlikely based on what I’ve seen. Rolling several events into one is even less likely since these events are major fund raising projects for the teams involved and it would be foolish to just drop them as such.
We’ve ( the big K and the rest of us) have been talking about a spring rotating event since there is no NJ event at that time of year… Maybe that is the way to go?
