I was wondering if anyone has a list of championship venues since the beginning, I know before St. Louis, it was Atlanta, GA…
I was wondering if having a championship in a given state, makes the teams more sustainable, meaning do we have more seasoned teams that have been competing for more than 10 years in GA, than teams let’s say in CA ?
I hope to start on a dissertation for my Ph.D, and thinking in doing a topic around accounting for intangibles to determine team sustainability.
This is the list of locations and each year they took place in each location. I must say, Epcot was my favorite, it may have been just because I was a 6-8 year old boy when we went down there, but it was still the time on my life.
1992: Manchester, NH
1993-1994: Nashua, NH
1995-2002: Orlando, FL, at Epcot Center, Disney World
2003: Houston, at Reliant Park
2004-2010: Atlanta, at Georgia Dome
2011-?: St. Louis, at Edward Jones Dome
I think you’ll find a very low correlation of team sustainability to championship location currently. It has probably decreased over time. I think you’ll find a very correlation of sustainability to regional location.
In the early days, the sustainability factor may have been important. Now that the event is so big, they are constrained to cities that have (large domed sports stadium + convention center next door + lots of hotels nearby + big airport), plus the all-important “reasonable price to rent the venue”.
Please note that it was not until 1997 that there was a second regional outside of NH. That was the first year of the Midwest Regional. At the time it was the Motorola Midwest Regional and was held at Harper College just down the road from Motorola Headquarters in Schaumburg, IL.
Also if you are looking into factors, at EPCOT the competitions were held in a constructible “stadium” and inflatable field house area hosted in a parking lot and field area. At EPCOT the competitions were never help in any type of permanent buildings.
If you are looking for actual statistics for a case study, you might be able to find a better study with attraction factors to teams as to where competitions are held. For example, if the championship was still held in Disney (or next to an amusement park ex. 2003) would more teams be attracted to attend than if it is held in the middle of a metropolis city with no “immediate” “youthful” attractions.
My first year going to EPCOT ('96), it was actually in a permanent building, the America Gardens Theater (Google Maps Link), and the pits were in the nearest parking lot SE of the stage. (geo: 28.36704, -81.54724)
That year, the top 5 qualifiers had their pits at the top of stands (geo: 28.367975, -81.549422)
One question I have begin to ask from mentors, the question : “How you got involved with FIRST Robotics ?”
The 2 times I asked that question lately, both time I got the same response :
“Someone I knew from out-of-town was going to compete at Championship and I went to check it out”.
I know that it is not what we call “research”, but I am thinking one of the benefits of having championship in a given town is that it can help team sustainability in bringing local mentors to become involved.
I became involved when my son began covering the team via video for documenting their progress in 1996. I assisted with video editing, and as chaperone for students working with animations at one of the high schools. The next year I attended the first Motorola Midwest Regional in 1997, to watch the team perform. I still had not worked with the robot, just the video team. There was trouble with the robot during that event, and I was asked to come and lend a hand with an electrical problem. I have been working with electrical team ever since. That was my first meeting with Andy Baker and the Technocats, BTW. It was also the first time I met Baxter Bomb Squad and Beatty as I remember.