Does anyone know what’s going on with all of that? Is it possible to see the list of placeholders somewhere online?
FTC 368 - The Faberians (Knowledge Is Good) - won a lottery invitation (VA Championship winning alliance members) and are going to accept it - See you at the Georgia Dome.
so they already started the lottery? Are they supposed to do that before all the regionals are over?
Lottery was on Feb 23. I believe any first pick team after this gets automatic ticket to Atlanta (we did).
oh wow, where have I been. If all first picks go now, what happens to the last pick?
not sure, I’m guestimating if there is still space left they will hold a secondary lottery.
so for all those who will be participating next year, go to later regionals. You are guaranteed a spot without a lottery if you get picked first 
i actually believe most if not all first round picks were selected. Think about it, with 2 divisions there may be 100 teams in Atlanta and 30 regionals. 30 inspire, 30 winners, 30 first picks. Now take into consideration teams like overdrive, that took 5 places just by themselves. That means I think all of the first picks as well as maybe half the second picks will qualify for Atlanta.
Not exactly. usfirst.org says that placeholders will be used for regionals that have not been held yet. Now going to a later regional can give you some information about how many teams were invited, and that can give you some idea about the odds.
your most likely right, but i still thinks its kinda pointless to even schedule a lottery before all teams have competed in their regional
Monty has the right idea. Basically as I explained in another thread they don’t actually put the teams in the lottery. They place the regionals into the lottery. This way each regional has a chance to get its teams to Atlanta. Some would say then why don’t they hold the lottery earlier in the year? Well if they held it earlier teams might find out which regionals had spots and go to those regionals. However they need to hold it early enough so that teams can plan for Atlanta. So they held it after a majority of the regionals had been held.