Okay everyone I have an idea. FIRST board if you are reading just take a second to consider this.
Postpone everything you have to, to be safe. Our lives are more important than 2020 FRC. In order to ensure the best experience for everyone, all qualifying teams that can compete safely this year go to one championship, either Houston or Detroit. Disregard what the current assignments are, just Non-Covid-19 teams. Next year, in 2021, have THREE Championships. One either right before the season or whenever works for first, for all the teams affected by Covid 19. They would compete with their 2020 robot, playing the 2020 game. After this, the 2021 season could carry on as planned. Anyone else see this as a possible solution? I’d also love to hear if anyone else has any ideas
James
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#3Champs is a great idea that FIRST should do.
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The problem with this is logistics. FIRST has a LOT of time and money invested in these two events. But beyond that, they have to reserve the venue likely years in advance. This alone would make a 3rd event next year nearly impossible.
Also, many teams already have travel arrangements for their champs event. Changing that for half the teams, while possible, is a logistical nightmare.
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Logistical nightmare for FIRST. I do not envy those who need to make the decisions.
At least they are out of the large venues for Einstein… that has to help financially.
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I agree that trying to cancel a venue/get a third venue at this point may be logistically difficult or impossible, since they usually negotiate contracts years in advance. But it does seem like this situation will call for a more sophisticated solution than “just have everyone go next year”.
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Like I said in the other thread, FIRST probably already was planning on 3+ championships (and is probably waiting to announce 2021 championship plans for that reason in fear of extended backlash which they got from 2015 to 2016), which already opens up plenty of spots for those teams.
This seems overly confident for something that is pure conjecture.
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oh definitely. Although I’d put it more in cynicism that in confidence for myself.
I believe FIRST is still on the hook for Ford Field/MMP until the contract expires, regardless of if they actually use the venues this year.
IIRC MMP won’t be used for Einstein finals this year, correct me if I’m wrong
That is correct, however FIRST signed a contract for the venue for however many years, so even though neither of those venues will be in use, they still have to pay for them.
Just going off of Wikipedia, it seems like all 4 venues have separate owners and operators, so I wouldn’t assume that FIRST has a single contract covering the rental of both venues.
I don’t think it is necessarily a single contract, however I can’t imagine that FIRST didn’t make sure that all of their contracts covered the same time period when they were signed.
With all of the logistics this probably wouldn’t fly. For example, seniors who are graduating this year. Do they get to come back and compete with their robot even though they aren’t in high school anymore? Time will tell what actually happens. FIRST probably has a lot on their plate regarding this issue and is probably playing the waiting game.
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Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the contracts expired at the end of last season.
Long shot,
August-October
Comps resume
Champs in November
My initial concern with a schedule such as the one suggested would be the # of days off that kids would have to take during the 2020-2021 school year, and the amount of burnout that people would have going into the 2021 FRC season.
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Could be. I am going off memory of something I had previously read.
The Astros have a homestand 4/17-26 against the Angels, Rays, A’s. Can’t imagine there would still be a contract with FIRST still in force this year since field build would have been 4/17 and Einstein on 4/18.