I split NY into two, upstate joins with NE and NYC/LI are their own district. The “district” with ID/MT/WY/CO is a fake district, with just a district championship, but that’s different from a regional because other teams can’t join in.
What about non-continental-US teams? Some have their own districts, like Ontario. For others, they could either a) opt-in to a district and play like a local team or b) play in any district events for some universal leaderboard or c) play in international regionals.
I call it the Universal Points map. Everyone qualifies for the next level play according to the same scale. Anyone can play anywhere, though each team gets priority for their closest event (or 2-3 in dense areas) if they want it.
Registration fees are split between FIRST Headquarters (who designs the game, builds the fields, exercises oversight, and provides backend support) and local program delivery organizations (who produce events on the ground). Any 501(c)(3) can become a PDO, so we’ll see some organizations running just one or two events, and others that are running a dozen+ within a state or country.
Imo, a PDO should demonstrate their ability to host and scale before being allowed to expand that big. And I’d grandfather in existing district organizations if they want to continue, at whatever scale they’re at.
I don’t think some new organization should be allowed to host two dozen events in year one, but why not eventually?
Split MO at Boone county and the counties directly North/South. Teams East go with STL to IL and WI. Teams west go with KC to KS. Teams on the line choose at registration
Western NY would fit better in either WOW or FMA, while teams in the Hudson Valley could go to NE (for Albany area teams). Many Finger Lakes Regional teams already compete where would-be WOW teams go anyway.
I’d be okay with this if the district championship were in the DFW area. I’ve flown to Houston from OKC the last two years to avoid the awful I-35/I-45 combo drive. (One of the kids has very nicely stopped at Buc-ee’s for me so I could get my cherry sours fix).
