VEX Worlds Public Statement

VEX Robotics Competition Discussion
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The REC Foundation and VEX Robotics has posted the following update regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and impact to VEX Worlds:

We sent this same letter to the countries directly impacted two days earlier so that they would hear the news first from us and not on any forums or social media.

I do want to recognize that this is a very dynamic situation and things are changing rapidly.

I want to highlight a one specific point from the update:

“If there are restrictions that will not allow the 2020 VEX Robotics World Championship to take place, registered teams will receive a full refund on their registration fee.” - This has been asked a lot on all the forums so I trust everyone will be relieved.

Feel free to post questions and I will answer as best as I can later in the day.

Thanks,
Dan

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Thank you Mr. Mantz for the update

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Lets hope the situation gets better.
It’d be a shame for all the senior teams to have to miss worlds their last year

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If a circumstance arises that cancels worlds will teams be refunded the registration fee?

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Read the post, please.

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Good morning, thank you for the statement.

QUESTION:

The statement states that if Worlds is cancelled, teams will receive a refund.

My district is currently considering cancelling all out of state travel. If a school district cancels travel, but Worlds is not cancelled, will we be able to receive a refund?

Thanks for the information

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I would highly doubt that because a lot of the registration cost gets used up as a part of the event itself. The money isn’t all going to RECF or VEX. So either they would have to cancel everything and refund the whole event or no one at all. Just my thoughts.

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Thank you Mr. Mantz.

My question is, what will happen to teams that qualify but will be unable to attend, if, for example, the championship is cancelled? Will spots be allocated to those teams next year?

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I would assume if the event is cancelled spots are void. It kinda sucks but otherwise you would already have enough teams qualified to make worlds run next year which would either mean worlds spots next year are reduced drastically or they somehow have to run a double sized worlds.

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What if teams that cant go get preference on waitlist admission next year?

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Thank you for sharing this update Mr. Mantz. I have a question regarding the teams who have qualified but are unable to attend, who are not from the countries listed in the announcement. Will these spots also be reallocated? (If so, then it would seem fair to refund those teams’ registration fees, as it would be a net zero for the RECF). Given that authorities including school boards and universities seem to be announcing new travel restrictions for their students every day, and many qualified teams have been affected by this already, I think it would be necessary to reallocate these spots to have a remotely full Worlds event.

Thoughts on this?

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That doesn’t answer the question. The question was if a team is prevented from going by their own authorities, not if worlds ends up being cancelled.

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My question still stands. The statement indicates that local/state/government agencies may cause WORLDS to be cancelled, teams get refunded.

My question is regarding if WORLDS still occurs, but my local district prevents travel.

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What kind of events would need to unfold for Worlds to be canceled all together? There has to be a certain points in which the CDC or Louisville Tourism Department have informed RECF that could forcefully cancel the world championship. I understand if you can not provide us this information but it is worth asking for all the nervous teams out there.

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We need the same answer… my district has already canceled some travel… Will school district canceling the teams from going get a refund?

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When will teams know if they qualified through skills or waitlist, also what is waitlist for worlds?

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You can sign your team up for the waitlist by going to the RobotEvents page for worlds for your age group, logging in, and going to the Waitlist tab.

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Right now Washington is banning all gatherings of more than 250 people in the Seattle area.

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I asked a similar question and this is the response I received via email:
" If local, state, and government officials implement restrictions that would not allow the 2020 VEX Robotics World Championship to take place as planned, registered teams will receive a full refund of their registration fee.

If you team can not attend due to district restrictions or other circumstances, the normal refund policy will apply."

So it looks like teams will get a refund if Worlds is cancelled, not if your district decides you can’t go.

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