OK now that you all are back and have 1 day under your belt I am curious as to what you found to be positive about the nationals in Houston.
My biggest postive was the larger pit area with what seemed to be more room.
KY
Team 476
I enjoyed the open feel of both the pit area and the spectator area of the fields…as well as the pits being well-lit as well as the fields, although i do favor stage lights over ambient light, it’s nice that everything can be seen very well.
Just about every seat was a comfy seat. It was shaded (no more sweating!). There were great places to relax outside if you didn’t want shade. It probably took less time to get into 6flags than it did to get into Epcot. The huge TV screens were nice…we sat with team 222 watching them compete in the finals while keeping an eye on our own division’s finalists. And finally, nice bathrooms…as much fun as those trailer toilets were in Epcot 
The organization was superb IMO. That was what struck me the most at Houston.
Houston had a lot of problems, most of which seemd to be the result of a new venue and a need for refinement. But here are the positive I can see-
- The huge size- The Reliant Arena could easily fit 6 fields on the playing floor. If we had 100 teams per division that means we could have 600 teams play.
The odd/even qualification system should go and we should have ALL the teams who can go attend. This might be the place that can handle that.
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The huge parking space- behind the Reliant was a huge space that might be the home of FIRST related entertainment events- paintball, racing, Segway track, exhibition rodeo ? - you name it. There was little off time stuff for the kids to do in Houston. It would have been nice to make the whole complex into an amusement area for teens so, like Disney, everything would be contained in a confined area.
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The view of the field- We still need the big projection screens but the view of the field of play was superior.
My team’s suggestion is to have the pit areas in the circular corridor above the field in that section. Move the food concessions to the third level or outside in tents and have the food catered in. Leave the Astrodome for other activities.
WC
*Originally posted by Wayne C. *
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- The huge size- The Reliant Arena could easily fit 6 fields on the playing floor. If we had 100 teams per division that means we could have 600 teams play.
The odd/even qualification system should go and we should have ALL the teams who can go attend. This might be the place that can handle that.**
I agree wholeheartedly. There was plenty of room, and I’m certain that there could even be more than four divisions, though eight might be a stretch.
I also loved the huge pit and stadium area. It was amazing walking into the staduim for the first time on Thurs. I’ll never forget that…
Yeah. How many sports fans get to say they walked on Reliant Stadium’s field? 
Although the floor was large enough to accomodate more fields…would more really be wanted? Any closer together and there would be overlapping sound and maybe queuing congestion or something. The seating would probably be a hassle also. Also, I don’t think the Astrodome would handle 600 pits. Although, FIRST could always pitch another huge pit tent like at Epcot. It would make the distance a lot shorter if placed correctly.
All in all, it went nicely for the massive changes. It wasn’t perfect, obviously. But for moving a massive competition like that halfway across the country, it worked out quite well. I applaud FIRST for doing such a good job with it!
*Originally posted by David Lantz *
** It was amazing walking into the staduim for the first time on Thurs. I’ll never forget that… **
Ho…ly…cheese…Same here. I sooo regret not taking a picture of that.
I took a picture when I first entered the pits, and entered the fields stadium. I’ll hunt through my 200 digital pictures and post one later.
I agree - seeing the huge hugenessess of the pits and fields took my breath away.
How about not roasting for 3 or 4 hours in the stands waiting on the awards and being so far away you really could not see anything. Not a bad seat in the house.
“My team’s suggestion is to have the pit areas in the circular corridor above the field in that section. Move the food concessions to the third level or outside in tents and have the food catered in. Leave the Astrodome for other activities.”
I really like that Idea. Make it happen!!
Many good and bad things about Houston, but the BESTEST thing FIRST could have done and did in fact do, is seperate the traffic of robots and people for the most part.
I loved the new closing cerimonies format as well.
Mix the speeches up with matches. Good Idea!!!
Everything I was gonna say has been mentioned!
The place was incredibly huge, walking into the pits the first day, with thousands of people around, was just incredible.
The Web Hug was fun, got to see a few new faces, met some new ones at Six Flags too (Hi Mike!) It was a great time, I hope I get to go back next year!