Because there aren’t any suitable venues “several hundred miles inland.”
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On point.
Many facilities have multi-year contracts.
I think that may be why the MEC facility in northern CA doesn’t bid. MEC has 5 indoors, 9 outdoor arena, stabling for 1,000 (I think the permanent stall count is 300), major airport 1 hr away, private airport 1 mile away, established volunteer base…but who from the east coast would make the trip?..
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Regarding the comments with the AECs, I’m very interested to see what the entry numbers end up being with it in CA next year. Entry numbers have been significantly down when hosted in CO and MT in recent years, whereas they’ve had record numbers (I believe around 900) when hosted in KY.
If USDF Finals did have a west coast year or a more central (so firmly a western state, as opposed to the current Midwest states of KY/OH) year, do people reasonably think that entry numbers would be the same? I do believe it’s harder to qualify for USDF Finals than it is for AECs, so not sure how much that changes things. I have no dog in this fight, I don’t do enough straight dressage to go to regionals, let alone nationals.
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As many people as are able to make the trip east from CA. Inconvenience the east-coasters for a change - it’s their turn.
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If you look at the USDF regional competition qualifying numbers, on USDF.org, it is easy to see why it is a financial decision to favor not being on the West Coast.
Let’s just take 1st level AA(you can look up any of the levels) on JUST Region 1 vs Region 7. This is just 1 region comparison.
Region 1- 65
Region 7- 12
Open Training
Region 1- 44
Region 7- 13
AA Training
Region 1- 71
Region 7- 20
You can do all the levels, all the rRegions and split it out by side of the country and the central and east leaning far outweigh any of the west regions.
If the USDF said they would rotate, they should. However, I see the numbers and finances and it is pretty clear why the WC is not favored.
Don’t kill the messenger, you can look it up for yourselves. I would find it hard to believe that someone would forgo a chance to compete at regionals because it doesn’t count for national finals, but I can see some argument for that side.
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If we’re going by maximum number of competitors qualifying for regionals, there’s absolutely no reason to continue holding the finals in Region 2. In fact, by that logic, only Region 3 makes sense.
The point is that these were supposed to be national championships, and USDF promised to rotate them to give all regions an equal opportunity to compete. If they simply want to hold them in the area with the most competitors, they should move them to Florida and abandon any pretense of them being national. Or do East, Central, and West championships, as others have suggested.
I pulled all the data for this year instead of just two regions, in case anyone’s interested. The max number at each level is highlighted, as are the second and third largest competitor groups.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LrbjoWIhUMOETLEhVAQXofeI6_67_ybkMK5XLdz5ucQ/edit?usp=sharing
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Thanks for putting this together. Is this for the AA divisions?
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Sorry, yes.
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But it isn’t by Region. That was my example. Look at the numbers by side of the country. You can be as salty as you want, I don’t blame you, but the facts are probably more people participate and qualify for nationals on the east side of the country. If they said they’d rotate, they should, but it’s a numbers game.
You made my point from your spreadsheet. Count the participants of the regions by east and west side and see what makes sense financially.
I don’t have any skin in the game, but the numbers are the numbers.
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I think we agree 
- Holding it in KY or OH makes no statistical sense.
- Don’t promise to rotate if you’re not going to.
- Don’t call it a National Championship if you’re only ever going to hold it in the place with the most qualified riders.
- If the last point is true, hold it in Region 2.
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It’s also worth noting that Region 7 used to be the largest region by number of qualified competitors. Since the finals started, that number has dwindled.
While correlation doesn’t imply causation, I do wonder if fewer people on the west coast bother paying the additional qualifying fee when there’s no chance they’ll ever be able to go to the national champs.
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The qualifier gets you to regionals which is a goal for many
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That’s a very good point. If I won’t be able to attend, why pay to try?
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It IS a National show. Just because someone choses to not make the drive doesn’t make it not true. There’s no reason to pay the qualifying fee if one doesn’t plan on making the drive if one qualifies, but the qualifier is for Regionals which is most people’s end of the season goal. That’s why it’s an optional fee… I’m sure it would make sense to move it to the Region with the most entries. It is held in OH because an effort was made to find a suitable facility as close to the middle as possible and they have suitable facilities. What doesn’t make sense is moving it all the way to one coast where there aren’t the entries to warrant it.
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Even Regionals is nearly always too far for me. So I just put the Q down on the highest test of the level at my area shows, in order to say I did it, IF I did it, usually with no intention of going. Just to see my horse’s name included on the list. I think a lot of us do this?
I’ve often said if I qualified at Regionals at PSG+ then it might be worth the effort and expense to get the horse (and me!) to Finals but so far that has not been how things have developed and I’m only getting older. This season is my younger horse & my Second-Level campaign year, and Regionals will be in Parker CO again (13-14 hours away) so it’s not in the plan for 2025.
But, hey, we still might make the list.
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I completely disagree. This was sold to the membership on the basis that its location would change every year so that one coast wouldn’t be unfairly disadvantaged. They lied. For most amateurs on the west coast, there is no way to afford the trip every year.
It is NOT a national show when you consistently hold it in a location that a large percentage of the qualified riders cannot afford to travel to.
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Have you qualified every year/any year to go to Nationals?
When was it that Nationals promised to rotate?
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Just curious since I don’t have a dog in this hunt, but when was this sold to the membership? Policies can change over time depending on the availability of suitable locations that are interested in hosting said show.
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dressage_finals.pdf (3.4 MB)
I did a basic search looking for any language about them selecting the location. I found this question and answer with George Williams from 2013 which was when the first finals was held. It’s interesting when he was directly asked a question about the location he only answered the part of th question about the time of the year.
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It was sold that way from the very beginning, when they first surveyed the membership. They announced the new championship and said it would rotate locations. It never, ever did.
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