FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

Will teams be told their lottery number before the 2nd round?

Please make closing times midnight... not middle of the afternoon when (we) mentors and teachers anre working and TEACHING>>>>  thank you

If you are a District team, can your first preference be a Regional Event or an Out of District Event? 

Do we need to have the championships as one of our selections?

Why not give preference to in-region teams for their own events? With the current system a team could unnecessarily be forced to travel a good distance just out of sheer bad luck.

I can see a middle lottery number team in the Los Angeles area (my area) getting skunked on first and second rounds of assignments.

Was there any thought to making the first round limited to say the five closest events to a team? 

I second this - for all FIRST deadlines, including Chairman's, etc. Please make closing times midnight... not middle of the afternoon when coaches and mentors are working. Many people who are helping do not do this during their work day. Whether it's a deadline a coach needs to meet, or a student-led effort that needs to be reviewed by a mentor, this is work that often needs to be done after the regular workday is over, and arbitrary, middle-of-the-day deadlines just don't work.

Hi Frank.

I'm sure you and the rest of FIRST HQ has put some thought into this, but I am concerned for teams that can't really afford to travel too far. For a team like mine in the New England District, the district is pretty big, and can include some very long drives to events. Most teams would stay over at a hotel near the event, but some teams just can't afford to do this. Basically, is there any preference given for proximity to an event?

Thanks!

Instead of allowing teams to buy their way to championships, why not offer more spots to teams from say, the second winning alliance of each regional? 

Keep in mind FIRST is a "global" organization. Midnight to you might be 06:00 to someone else. So if it is going to be midnight or noon or what ever, it probably should be based on "local time" not like Stop Build. I do like stop build being the exact same time for everyone, but again, some teams loose almost a whole day due to timezones for kick-off.

The Ontario District is about as large geographically as any district can be. With drive times from one end of the province to the northern portion being over a 10 hour drive without adverse weather conditions, the lottery system, if not weighted in some way to factor distance into the lottery system will undoubtedly place tremendous burden on team schedules and finances.  Other Canadian areas, not in the district system could now be having to draw into much larger geographies spanning provinces and international borders. This system unless it somehow accommodates weightings for distance and other factors could seriously impair a team's ability to be financially sustainable.  These changes also introduce uncertainly for team mentors, parents and others that must schedule vacation time to support these teams. Many employees who are mentoring and supporting teams must let their employers know in advance of time off requests. This scheduling lottery will likely increase scheduling uncertainty for the mentor support community. 

Preference for the District events should be given to teams based on their proximity to the venue so that travel costs can be kept down. If our team could commute to 2 events instead of having to travel and pay hotels and food, it would be a tremendous help in these days of dwindling support.

So, will all teams be treated equally to include the "legendary teams?" This method will not take into the account of the schools schedule for holidays, exam schedule etc. If the overloading of the systems can not be corrected then I strongly suggest registration by districts on different days then regionals. 

If a team gets selected to compete when exams or when breaks occur it may have a participation consequence on not attending events.

Frank,

Since you state the is a high level view, please review this decision from the bottom. Has FIRST HQ real taken the time to understand the process of getting School Board approvals 3-months in advance of out of school district trips, approvals the unbudged additional expanses for traveling to another event even in the same state that will require an over night. Does FIRST HQ realize funding for both the FIRST teams registrations and any school trips have to be budgeted a year ahead (ie at end of last years competition). This will significantly impacts all teams, more so with teams with limited resources and funding sources. So do not be surprised if some existing and some expected new teams may be forced to not to participate in a FIRST competition because of the significant expense.

Thanks!

Frank,

I am extremely dissatisfied with this decision.  Based on your own statement, "and more convenient and to reduce the load on our systems." This is more about what your servers can handle not what is truly in the best interest of the teams.  This system will not be more fair - It puts more of a burden on the mentors/coaches getting approval for "tentative" events that may or may not come to fruition.  It puts more anxiety on the families not knowing if they will have to pay for a hotel/food/travel. It puts more of a strain on fundraising. I only see this benefitting headquarters. In the two short seasons my team has been with FIRST I have become more and more frustrated for the services I am receiving. Especially considering the price tag of each event.  

That's a very complicated solution and random (lottery) solution to a problem nobody was having. What's so hard about signing up for an event and getting wait listed if it's full?

Some schools have more than one FRC team. If each team has a different lottery number, it is likely that a school would have teams playing at different venues simultaneously or at the very least at different venues on different weekends.  This would force us to spread our coaching staff and our travel resources out to an impractical degree. I respectfully suggest that a lottery number be assigned to each school or organization instead of each individual team. If teams originating from the same school can compete together at the same tournaments, we can maintain our program with similar budgets and staffing levels as prior years.  

Please consider the cost of teams needing to travel to regionals close to our schools so as many of our students can experience the FIRST competition.  Even with fundraising and sponsorships, the cost of travel is not always covered and some students cannot afford the cost.  Also, we attempt to travel during our school break to reduce the time away from our classes and with the lottery this might not be a possibility anymore.  We have to get out of state travel approved months in advanced and now we are left up to picking the location without the prior approval.  I understand the system issues, but I know there are other ways to go about fixing the system without going to a lottery system.  This isn't going to be fair for all schools involved, especially those with limited funding.  Can you look at looking into a 150 or 200 mile radius for the first wave to give those schools within driving distance an opportuntity to get to at least one regional?  If not, you might have schools that never get to compete. 

Does this mean that teams will have to pay the registration fee soon after being notified on 9/29?

Our team is on a limited budget and as of today there are only 4 events within a 8 hour drive of our location (San Diego) and there are more than 90 teams in southern California (not counting Arizona and Nevada) now all potentially competing for the same limited spots. I agree with other posts, this is all about making it easier for HQ and did not take into consideration the impact this may have on teams.  At this point our team is seriously considering leaving FIRST as the costs keep skyrocketing.

I want to reiterate what those who have already expressed...that travel costs will be too high for our team to participate if we are unable to stay local. Also, have the First decision makers considered our families and sponsors who also enjoy seeing us compete? They will likely be disappointed as they will not take time off to travel out of town.

So there is NOTHING in this new system that helps teams get assign to regionals close to them? There are only two regionals (Silicon Valley and San Francisco) our team can travel to without needing to book hotels. This is our second year competing and we don't have very deep pockets, and if we don't get a regional we can drive to we may not be able to bring all our students. Every team should be able to register for the event closest to them, and any teams that want a second event, or to trade the one closest to them for a different one, should be a separate issue.