So, with event info slowly coming out, I figure it’s appropriate to discuss/gather opinions about venues.
What’s the best venue you’ve been to?
What matters in a venue (ie. size, ‘glam’, accessibility, etc…)?
Also, the main question I’m wondering about, with the further shift to districts, should a lesser ‘production quality’ of an even be expected at the region/district/state championship?
Best venue I have been to is the Memorial Coliseum here in Portland. Its a basketball court with a conference hall about 100 feet away from the floor. So we have the pits in that separate room, and the field sits right in the middle of the court with tons of visibility and seating around the entire thing. During Eliminations, all 24 teams bring the pits out to the field and sit around the outside because there is enough room.
What matters too me is that there is good spectator room and visibility, and pedestrian access from the pits to the stands is not super long. That’s the biggest problem with worlds is that the pedestrian walk is really long compared to the robot walk.
My favorite is Goerge R. Brown here in Houston where Lone Star is held. The pit area is big enough for 64+ teams to all have a corner pit. The pits are setup in blocks of 4 which makes it really easy to navigate and limits congestion. The stands are pretty big and no one sits behind the scoring table so the VIPs/Speakers have a pretty easy task of looking at the two sections of the bleachers and don’t have to turn around at all. Discovery Green is right outside and a great place to eat lunch with your team.
Air conditioning…
Usually it’s not a choice though
We had a couple of years of MSHSL where there was no air conditioning in Williams arena-- it was brutal.
During the regular season in MN we tend to hope for heating though…
At the Oklahoma Regional they hold the regional on the floor where ice hockey is played. Because of the expense of melting/relaying the ice, they keep it there and instead roll a big tarp out to cover it. The refrigerator is still running of course, to keep the ice solid beneath our feet. Needless to say it is a bit chilly on the field
Orlando is my favorite. Really feels like a big school event when you’re on a real college sports floor!
I haven’t been to a lot of venues (7 by my count, 10 if you count offseasons) but my favorite is the UIC Pavilion in Chicago (Midwest Regional) followed by the DECC in Duluth.
What makes the UIC Pavilion awesome? Let me count the ways:
Bathroom and bubbler (yes, bubbler) are a straight shot up the stairs from the pits
Stadium seating goes down to ground level giving you a nice sitting area and alternate entrance/exit if you happen to have a pit on the edge
Large screen at the back of the Pavilion shows the house stream so you can watch alliance selections and other stuff from the pit
One of the house vendors actually sells good food! (the one of to the right when you enter the main doors)
I’m gonna miss it 
Duluth is awesome because of the skywalk system between all the hotels and the DECC. They also had a drink/snack vendor in our hall of pits in 2013. The super high seating in the arena leaves a little to be desired but as I’m normally in the pit it doesn’t bother me much. You also get to watch curling!
The venues I’ve been to include:
U.S. Cellular Arena (Milwaukee, being renamed I believe. The circus seems to come to the venue every single eyar 1-2 weeks before the regional leaving a lingering animal smell in the side halls 
)
UIC Pavilion (Chicago)
One of the Twin Cities venues (wherever North Star was in 2010)
The venue at Pitt (3 flights of stairs between the pits and where we sat in the stands. Not one of my favorites! )
The DECC (Duluth)
Champs in Atlanta (GWCC/GeorgiaDome)
Champs in St. Louis (Edward Jones Dome/America’s Center)
Best venue, easily, was the Naval Academy, back when the Chesapeake regional was there. It’s a shame that they moved it. Annapolis is such a nice town.
To echo this Orlando has so much that is great about it. Parking is awesome, food is plentiful and cheap, so much open space just outside the arena, plus it is in Orlando just think of the team bonding options.
To get into more details it is held in the CFE(formerly UCF) Arena which has a capacity of just under 10,000. The pits are in the old UCF Arena (Which used to host the event) which is connected to the new arena for very easy access. Because the pits are in the old arena there is plenty of space and congestion is not to big of an issue. The field utilizes both the jumbo screen that most regionals have as well as utilizing the jumbo displays used at the basketball games meaning during eliminations (when we are all stuck behind the curtain) you can still clearly see the matches going on. The seating is also interesting as the seats that have the best view of the field are standard seats so if your team arrives late and is stuck behind an alliance station wall you have the luxury of sitting in the comfy padded premium seats. 
Orlando/Florida was my first FIRST competition so it holds a special place in my heart and I do love the constant stream of fresh new teams attending every year.
I gotta plug Long Beach Sports Arena. 66 teams, and if event organizers wanted to could probably hold another 6 without too much venue stress. (Volunteer stress, on the other hand… not gonna go there. Ditto for schedule stress.) The first year L.A. was held in Long Beach, the pits were 15x10, for 60 teams. (It was a definite improvement over the 8x8 pits the year before, thanks to being double-booked with a large water tank in the venue…) Access is relatively easy; stadium food is, well, stadium food, but if you make it over to the other side of the conference center next door there’s lots of decent food, if a touch on the slow side. Oh, and if you’ve got lots of extra time there’s a few “major” places within a 15-minute drive or so, and a bunch more within an hour.
Now, “best” isn’t necessarily “coolest”, which is a tie between running a demo at JPL and SVR '99 in the blimp hangar. 
What I’d be looking for in a venue: enough space for all teams and spectators, with access and power as appropriate, and enough food for everybody within “easy” access.
As far as the “production quality” question, I think yes… and no. The quality should stay high, especially the higher up the competition you get. But it’s a good idea to look around for different providers from time to time, both to help the bottom line and to bring something different in, or to increase the quality if needed. But I’m not sure that keeping the same level just to keep the same level is a good idea.
I do agree but my opinion is biased since I have only been to 4 venues. And I’ve been the UIC Pavilion the most.
Agreed. The Coliseum seems like it was pretty much designed for FRC. The pit-field trip is all of 2 minutes, there’s plenty of seating, and the Chairman’s interview room (specific, I know, but it’s the little things) is not even 10 yards from the pits, yet in a soundproof room. I wouldn’t want it anywhere else in Portland, or the NW for that matter.
I feel sad because I don’t think we are going back there for District Champs in 2015. I loved the place, they let me rollerblade on the field side which made my footage look killer compared to previous events where you could see the bobbing of my stride. The price however is probably way too high for WFR with all the growth they are experiencing right now.
I heard that too, and it was really disappointing when I heard. I loved the coliseum, and it is EASILY the best venue in the PNW and within the top 5 of FRC I’d guess, I hope we do get to come back, because it really is a great venue.
I hear the 2012 venue for the Dallas regional was pretty awesome but I wasn’t around so if someone wants to pitch their opinion on that feel free.
I loved the OKC since there is just so much room! We were able to pull in our trucks inside the venue to unload. It was great! Plus the field was a little chilly since we were playing on the ice. The pits were so spacious! 10X15!!! OKC we love you!
Also the Austin Convention Center for the TRR this year was phenominal! It was just so large and spacious plus the meeting rooms were great for just about everything! If their ever is a vote to move the Alamo regional I will definitely vote for the Austin Convention Center.
I also hear ST.Louis is quite nice, maybe we will figure out next year?
Where have you heard that it’s moving to? This is the first time that I’ve heard about this, and while I hope it’s not true, I have a feeling that it might be.
My favorite venue is the Gordon Filedhouse on the RIT campus. If hosts FLR.
It has the seating capacity of an arena with the floorspace of a convention center.I have not seen anything else like it in FIRST.
Only downside is that 1/3rd of those seats are unusable with the giant mob of people standing in front of the field on Saturday. Otherwise easily one of the best venues I’ve competed at.
WPI’s layout in 2013 (and on?) was also pretty good; a lot of bleacher space going way up, big pit area, etc.
Its probably going to be at Eastern Washington University, the former home of the Spokane regional.