BGSO wrote:From a purely economic standpoint they will make more money, it's just a fact. Bear in mind their geographic location is a great one, being in the heart of the Suburbs, but I think that if they changed their format from a pure IHSA, to a PACE or NAQT that their attendance would drop.
If you believe that switching from running a bad tournament to running a good tournament will lose you teams then:
Run a good tournament. Bite the bullet on the "economic impact." Next year, run said good tournament again. Repeat. Eventually, people will come to your tournament because it's good, not because it's bad. I think that being ahead of the curve on quality is always a better strategy.
That said, I don't actually believe that switching from a bad to a good tournament will lose you teams. If your tournament has been around long enough, a lot of coaches will come anyway because they've been coming forever (see Riley above). Then there are some coaches who actually care about improving their team. They will want to come to your tournament because the large statewide tournaments are now using good questions. Therefore playing good tournaments make you more competitive statewide (eg. Auburn last year played an exclusively pyramid schedule). So in the end, you might lose some, you'll maintain most, and you might gain some. I see it as a likely wash in terms of money.
Now starting a new tournament on good questions might be a bit different. I'm not sure. We shall see how one new tournament run on good questions (Auburn) will fare.
On to Panasonic, or whatever they call it now.
Panasonic is not quizbowl. If you want to relate it to quizbowl, then it is bad quizbowl. In either case, the IHSSBCA should not support it.
But-we win national championships in Florida! Yes, we do.
But- what kind of "national championship"?
But-they give us money! Yes, they do.
But-IHSSBCA also spends money on Team Illinois. A lot of money.
Lime, Self and Society wrote:felt it was a legitimate competition that provided an educational and a positive memorable experience for our students
I was on Team IL and went to Panasonic, and won their national championship.
I would definitely call it a "positive memorable experience." I, like Siva, enjoyed myself enormously in Florida. Disneyworld is great, and so are scholarships. Frisbee till 2 am is fun too. And sure, the it was "educational."
However, Florida is definitely not legitimate. Pretty much the entire time was great, except playing the quizbowl-esque matches. The games just aren't fair, for the reasons that have been hashed over again and again. And we won, so I'm not just being sour.
Now is the time for IL to deaffiliate with the Florida format.
IL is reaching a turning point for good quizbowl. The major statewide tournaments all use pyramid style questions, it's now possible to play a fully pyramidal schedule, and new tournaments are added to that schedule that are good every year. Scholastic bowl is almost ready to become quizbowl. Saying goodbye to Florida format is one of the remaining steps to do that, because it will allow the top teams and the dedicated coaches to focus their time, energy, and the IHSSBCA's money on good quizbowl.
Besides, who plays Florida format in IL? The top teams at Ultima, and the top players who try out for Team IL. Who's going to miss it if the top players can't stand playing it and we're the only ones playing it?
I think it's a mistake to keep patronizing a tournament for reasons other than good quality--any reason, including being good at the tournament or the receipt of scholarships. The reason Team IL still goes south is the same reason Harrison in IN and all those other NAC teams still pay chip. They win stuff and have fun. And that's basically the only reason that Siva and I have said that we enjoyed Florida: we won stuff and had fun. I'm not against winning stuff and having fun. I am against using resources that should be used to further the goals of the IHSSBCA (i.e. promoting good quizbowl) to send a team solely so they can win stuff and have fun.
(By the way, the above should not be taken as being ungrateful to the IHSSBCA for sending all those Team ILs including the one I was on to Florida. Things were different nationally in quizbowl when they first sent a team. I just think it's now time to adapt.)