Either the event will be postponed/cancelled or we will the most watched Webcast in recent years.
I hope FIRST makes a decision early on this event, because it’s very expensive to travel here.
From personal experience, we are still going through a lot of challenges in trying to get recoup our expenses for the cancelled Taiwan event. The Taiwan govt did not actually provide compensation for all of our expenses, but we are thankful they are offering something.
The Hawaii organizers will NOT be able to do such a thing for teams traveling from abroad.
I’d read that as: “If you are planning on attending Hawaii and not local, probably best to cancel your travel plans now if at all possible and try to get a refund. If a refund is not an option, pack sunscreen and swim trunks and enjoy your vacation.”
At this point I’m thinking I will spend many days streaming the already played events and seeing what the really good bots were capable of that I didn’t get to watch yet.
Sorry to all who will be affected by this and the dozens of other cancellations / postponements.
The big issue here is if you’re going to postpone an event, make a decision before teams fly out and lose all chances of rebooking or getting refunds for airfares, hotel, etc.
The writing was on the wall for week 3 events early in the week.
Even two days would have made a world of difference.
The vibe I’m getting from a lot of these events is they know the event will be cancelled and are likely already planning for it, and then intentionally waiting until the state gives a thumbs down so it’s no longer completely on them. See all the cancelled Cali events this week often waiting until after the last minute.
