It’s too bad that FIRST can’t find venues to hold their events in that are better suited to accommodate the large crowds of people that they gather.
The big concern is seating, obviously. Especially on Saturdays (or Sundays where applicable), where crowds are much larger than they are on Thursdays and Fridays.
FIRST events are the “big show” of robotics, with some pretty big teams coming out. We had one this weekend with almost 100 people in attendance. Get 30 teams or more together and throw in the families, and it’s easy to overpower a gymnasium or other small venue with so many people.
People want to come out but they shouldn’t have to stand up all day because there’s no place to sit down.
Venues are different at different regionals. And they can change over time. We used to play the Arizona regional at a collesium…but it moved to a high school. I find pros and cons with each, but I’ll take whatever I can get…robots is fun!
Also consider the cost. These venues are not free to use, each regional must pay to use the space. The bigger the venue, the more expensive it will be. I’d love to have GKC at the Sprint Center, but it’s not financially viable.
I’m not sure how things work in the US, but FIRST Robotics Canada did a number of reviews of our venue for the Windsor Essex Great Lakes Regional and we (well, not me, but other people on our organizing committee) had to provide a list of candidate hotels that were checked to confirm they meet FIRST’s requirements.
Less-than-ideal situations sometimes occur - I’ve heard the reports about lack of spectator space at GTR East, for instance - but in my experience, when these things happen, it’s because of decisions based on the relative tradeoffs between available options, not because these factors haven’t been looked at.
Since I was at the same event as you and I know some back ground here. Let me say as an RPI student from the start I was adamant that this venue was going to be too small. 1200 seats for 40 teams is not enough. But the price was unbeatable. RPI donated almost all of the venue fees. Free is really hard to pass up.
If New York goes to the district system that will be a properly sized venue for 30~35 teams. But it is a bit small for the whole regional set up.