We’ve got a big list of updates to get out to the FRC Community about things going on in 2017. Some are not yet fully baked, so they need to stay in the oven a bit longer, but others are ready. We don’t go into much detail below, but we were anxious to get these out, so here you go!

2017 China Regional

The rumors are true, in 2017 there will be an official FRC Regional in China! Just this weekend, a very successful off-season event was conducted in Shanghai, and the Regional itself will be held in Shenzhen. Dates are TBD. I think this is an exciting development!

Subdivisions at the Championships

Each Championship will have 6 Subdivisions, and 3 Divisions pairing up 2 Subdivisions each for award purposes. We feel this is the best way to give a good experience to all involved. At this time, we anticipate a round-robin playoff format among the 6 Subdivision winning alliances, followed by a best two out of three playoff between the 2 top Subdivisions coming out of the round-robin to determine the Championship winning alliance. Several details still need to be worked out, but this would mean that all 6 Subdivision winning alliances will get 5 matches in the round-robin, and 2 will get an additional 2 or 3 in the final matchup.

We are currently working out the naming details on those new Subdivisions. We should have more information shortly.

Championship Slots from Regionals

We recognize that as a group, and under the 2016 scheme, teams qualifying for the Championships from Regional areas would be under-represented at the 2017 Championships. In an attempt to help address this, all 2017 Regionals will be getting one wild card slot in addition to those that would normally have been generated. This means that if, under the existing rules, a Regional normally would have generated no wild card slots, they instead will be generating one. If they normally would have generated one wild card, they instead will be generating two, etc. At this time, we anticipate no other changes to the wild card rules as they were in 2016.

It's important to understand that this is not necessarily a permanent change. If we need pull this bonus wild card slot back in future years because of Championship capacity or other reasons, we will do so.

Robot Transportation Exemptions

With the continued growth in FRC, and with the increase in the total number of slots we will have at our Championships, 2017 is going to be a busy year for robot shipping. FedEx is extraordinarily generous in their shipping donation to FRC, but we still are responsible for being good stewards of this valuable resource. We are continuing the Robot Transportation Exemption program in 2017, allowing teams to request assistance in shipping their robots to Regional events, if transporting their robot to the event themselves would be a hardship. However, those requests will get closer scrutiny than they have in the past. If you are a non-District team and planning to attend two or more Regionals in 2017, or if you are a District team (and so already getting two plays) planning to attend a Regional, that will be an indication to us that you may have the resources to pay for robot shipping on your own, and you should be prepared for your exemption request to be turned down. We recognize this may be a challenge for some teams, but feel it’s a good way to more fairly distribute this resource.

More to come on 2017, stay tuned!

Frank