When the even and odd year/team rule will stop.

FIRST Rumor Mill
1

I know that this was probably done but i had no idea how to put it into the search box.

anyways, any ideas as to when nationals will have to cut back on the teams going? i mean at the rate FIRST is growing, they won’t be able to allow all the even numbered teams to go to nationals on the even years and the same with odds. So does anyone have any ideas as to when thsi is going to happen?

i am predicting within the next two to four years.

also, any ideas as to what system will be used to get more people at nationals?
…maybe taking second and teams taking first…or lowering the points needed to get into nationals.

2

I think eventually the championship event will strictly be based on qualifying, previous Chairman’s award winners, Original teams, which now number only four, two of whom are Chairman’s award winners, Championship winners and judges award winners and that’s it. FIRST will probably have 50+ regionals to satisfy everybody else. There will be no more of the even/odd thing.

3

*Originally posted by Koko Ed *
**Original teams, which now number only four. **

???
:confused:

19, 45, 126, 190, 191, 250

I still count 6?
Are 2 dropping out?

4

*Originally posted by JVN *
**???
:confused:

19, 45, 126, 190, 191, 250

I still count 6?
Are 2 dropping out? **

The program said 19 joined in '94.
I have to check it again but I only saw 4 teams listed for 1992.

5

There are about 800 teams or so this year, only 280 teams get to go to Champsionship event.

There will be 1000 teams next year, and I doubt they can get more teams than 280~300 into Champ. They barely had enough staff/volunteers to run 4 fields this year. Any more teams would mean much less matches per teams within the 3 days.

When we reach to 1200 teams, or even 1400 teams, it will be impossible to use the current qualification system.

Eventually they will have to focus less in the championship event, and focus more into regional competitions. Just imagine having 2000 teams in the future. If you are thinking long terms, it is near impossible to come up with a good process without using regional champions, technical awards, and chairman/engineering inspiration award winners to qualify for the competition. There should also be regional woodie flowers award to recognize the huge amount of amazing people out there.

I would love to see regional championship events (maybe 4 of them around the country, and increase depending on how many teams there will be), where teams qualified for them can choose whichever one to go to. They won’t be as good as everyone around the country competing together, but at least a big part of them.

At the end… I can see the “Championship Event” being a giant PR event for the biggest sponsors/VIPs to go see the big show, with the best teams and best award entries, but that’s about as important as it will gets. If teams want to play each other, they will have to go to different regionals.

Also, I would love to see FIRST giving support for post season competitions, such as renting the innovation FIRST control systems, and the field parts. Then the local teams can take care of managing the event, and get more chances to play other teams. These will be one of the most important events for teams to socialize with each other, and have fun and get to know each other in a smaller environment.

6

I think they should allow the 1994 teams to be there too. :smiley:

7

*Originally posted by Koko Ed *
**The program said 19 joined in '94.
I have to check it again but I only saw 4 teams listed for 1992. **

On the pin that FIRST gave to the 10 year teams back in 2001, 19, 45, 126, 190, 191, and 250 are all listed as original teams.

8

Hopefully this year was the last for the even/odd rule. It is important that new teams remain motivated and get into the mainstream of the FIRST community. Nothing excites the kids like attending the Nationals, having fun with kids from across the country and the hope of coming away with National recognition.

The venue this year could easily have handled many more teams than it had. If we return to Disney it too should be pressed to increase the size of the competition so all can attend.

Of course this might take more than the 30 or so people in the FIRST office can handle so perhaps all the regional committees and veteran teams should look into what they can to do help FIRST get the job done.

WC:cool:

9

There will probably be no even/odd rule next year. Teams will have to qualify for nationals based on points, or get in automatically with a Chairman’s Award etc.

10

I think that what KenL said was a great idea. I think there should be the normal regionals, then have say 8 regional champioships. Then the 8 winning alliances from those events move on to the championship. They can split the alliances into 4 each and round-robin for seedings (Have each match be 2 out of 3). Then have a tournament to determine the champion.

11

*Originally posted by D.J. Fluck *
**On the pin that FIRST gave to the 10 year teams back in 2001, 19, 45, 126, 190, 191, and 250 are all listed as original teams. **

Looking in the program it list Team 19 as a 1994 team and 250 as a 1999 (:confused: ) team. Of course they also list our robot name as X-Caliper (last years bot).

12

*Originally posted by Koko Ed *
**Looking in the program it list Team 19 as a 1994 team and 250 as a 1999 (:confused: ) team. Of course they also list our robot name as X-Caliper (last years bot). **

It could be that 19, and 250 left, but started competing again, and FIRST gave those teams their old ## back that could be the only thing i can think off

13

I think they should do it like they do in pro sports with winning a the smaller regionals then move on to a higher regional (maybe New England, Mid-West, Atlantic, South West, and Rocky Mountains) then the winners of those finally advance to the grand pumba of NATIONALS!!! So you don’t go straight from 50 or however many regionals they will have to nationals but rather gingerly wittle it down so more teams can still play and those few lucky team still might have a chance to go up against the best oin the country( and elsewhere)

14

*Originally posted by “Big Mike” *
** It could be that 19, and 250 left, but started competing again, and FIRST gave those teams their old ## back that could be the only thing i can think off **

Or changed sponsors. Under the old rules, if you changed sponsors, you had to change numbers, and that may be the year they picked up their current number.

15

*Originally posted by Jeff Waegelin *
**Or changed sponsors. Under the old rules, if you changed sponsors, you had to change numbers, and that may be the year they picked up their current number. **

That’s whats happened with 73 the Visioneers. They went from Harris to Buasch and Lomb.

16

*Originally posted by Koko Ed *
**That’s whats happened with 73 the Visioneers. They went from Harris to Buasch and Lomb. **

It happened to our team, too. We went from 201 to 251 (no sponsor to EDS), then got the 201 back when we picked up Visteon in 2000.

17

Can’t they just have semi-finals? Then the winners from those Competitions could go to Nationals.?

18

*Originally posted by Koko Ed *
**Looking in the program it list Team 19 as a 1994 team and 250 as a 1999 (:confused: ) team. **

Our main sponsor changed company names, meaning we had to change our number (EDIT: and name). ((I’m pretty sure that’s why. If not, it’s because we expanded to 2 major schools and had to change names. My brother’s team alumni and says it’s the former.))

19

*Originally posted by WakeZero *
**There will probably be no even/odd rule next year. Teams will have to qualify for nationals based on points, or get in automatically with a Chairman’s Award etc. **

You may be right but it certainly isn’t fair to those who qualify in the last weeks of regionals and need to make thier trip arrangements last minute.

I also have a problem with grandfathered teams getting in without qualification because they were from the first year. I am not sure why that is a policy but I assume some promise was made years ago.

All teams should be allowed to play in the Nationals. The challenge to get there should be the challenge of arranging the trip. FIRST needs a much larger venue and more help from the teams at large to run it.

WC:cool:

20

I predict in 4 years you will have to win a chairman’s or judge’s award to make nationals… Like they say FIRST isn’t just winning so I think winning a regional will not matter too much…