Of the three axes listed, room availability is obviously essential. Cost to teams is the next-most important; Chicago has worked well for us because it's a major airline hub with good mass transit (that is: cheap flights for most and no need for car rental). Staffing availability is a rather more minor factor: Chicago is good at that, of course, but so many staff fly into HSNCT anyway that anywhere with decent airfares would probably be fine.cvdwightw wrote:It may be productive to [start a new thread with] a "list of places you'd like to see 2011 HSNCT;" people in those areas could then possible approach reasonable sites in those places about the possibility of bidding for 2011 HSNCT.
As Jerry posted in this thread, the three major axes that should be considered are:
-staffing availability: how much trained local staff is around, and how much will it cost to bring the rest of the staff out there?
-room availability: can we run a ~200-team tournament at the site?
-cost to teams: how much are teams going to have to pay to get there and stay there for 2-4 nights?
I'll throw a fourth axis in there - non-quizbowl attractions: for the teams that show up a day early, leave a day late, or don't want to stay for consolation rounds, are there easily accessible attractions that would encourage these teams to choose HSNCT over another national? Obviously, this isn't really going to affect the ~30-40 top teams that are gunning for a trophy place or higher, but that's only ~15-20 percent of the expected field.
A prime site would be good to excellent on the first three axes and at least adequate on the last.
So, if you're sick and tired of O'Hare-area hotels, now would be a good time to send us alternative suggestions.