I'd assume its the cost + more missed days of school. Its a really expensive flight, for example London to Dallas right now is about 1000 dollars once its all said and done and a its longer 10 hour-13 hour flight + other travel time probably translates into an extra one or two missed days of school and those really add up. I know whenever I have a long flight I just feel dead the next day. Then you add on the lack of bids and it just doesn't seem justifiable.
which? I didn't pay much attention to the summit bid reveal besides seeing j1 get paid.
I think if we're looking at Worlds teams, it's just the two teams you mentioned along with Spirit of Texas Royalty and Stingray All Stars Electric (both, I believe, will not be attending UCA).
I know that a lot of Level 6 teams seem to spend their time during competition season chasing a bid in order to afford World's. Often only attending bid events and competing reduced schedules compared to their gym's level 1-5 teams. Alll done to maximize their dollars in order to afford to cheer. With no opportunity to receive a bid, all NCA offers a Level 6 team is the experience and the prestige of a win. Not even the opportunity for Grand Champion. Then with the higher cost due to Stay to Play, and the expense of flying, in addition to time off school/work, I can definitely see how it might not be worth it for an out of state team to attend NCA under the current circumstances. The good news, I've heard that NCA is expected to take a look at this matter.
Which teams? I saw two that were D2 teams in a non-split division. And in that case the highest scoring D2 team will get a bid, per the bid declaration.
Level 6 teams can get a bid at NCA (as 3 teams just did), just not paid. And there are very, very few comps level 6 teams can get paid anywhere in the country, they aren't gonna go chasing those bids. IO5 is becoming much more prevalent to get a paid bid than it used to be, still could be better though for sure.
Correct, NCA offers Level 6 an opportunity to receive At Large Bids. However, many teams already have their At Large Bids prior to NCA. My daughter is on a Level 6 team and they definitely focus on competitions that offer paid bidsf that Level 6 teams can earn. They will probably attend 4-5 such competitions this year. I don't know any competition (other than NCA) that offers bids to Level 5, while not also offering them to Level 6. They may exist but I haven't encountered them during my 13 years of cheer.
There are several out there, Cheersport being another one of them. I believe UCA tends to be the same as well. It comes up often this time of year. There's got to be a solution out there to fix the issues with this though.
Yea, I've seen several teams with .33 or .17 deductions, can't figure it out either. All in different halls.
