March Madness is fast approaching and you could win big at ZAU ARTCC! All you have to do is be a registered member or visiting controller by February 15th to qualify! Details are below...
ZAU March Madness Bracket Competition
Who Can Participate?
As long as you are a ZAU member or visiting controller by February 15th, 2014 you are eligible to participate in the event.
If I join or submit a visiting controller application ZAU on February 16th, why can't I participate in this competition if the competition isn't until March?
We intend to have an early cutoff ZAU registration for the event due to the fact that if a new controller starting as an OBS joins late in the month, they may not have the ability to be promoted to an S1 prior to the beginning of the competition. By using February 14th as the ending eligibility date, it allows for those OBS controllers to get training and be promoted. Unfortunately, if a C1 controller joins on February 16th they are still going to be ineligible for the competition in order to be fair to all potential members even though the C1 controller will be able to control on ZAU positions.
What is the purpose of this competition?
The purpose of this competition is to increase controller activity at ZAU in order to encourage more pilots to fly in/out/through our airspace. And, it's fun!
What positions are eligible for the competition?
Any position within the ZAU airspace, DEL thru CTR is eligible for the competition. If you spend the entire month on MKE_DEL, it still counts.
How do I win?
There are two ways to win and you can actually be eligible to win both ways! The first way to win is to defeat your competition and be the ZAU March Madness Champion! The second way to win is to submit a completed bracket indicating your predictions and having the highest scoring bracket at the end of the competition whether it predicts you winning the competition or not. If you get the most points for your completed bracket and you are the grand champion controller at the end of the competition, you win both prizes!
How are seeds determined?
In an NCAA March Madness bracket, all the teams are placed based on their ranking. Since we cannot rank controllers prior to the event, rankings will be based on VATSIM CID. We will equate experience with ranking. Therefore, a controller with an 8XXXXX CID will be ranked higher than a controller with a 12XXXXX CID number.
How can I submit my own bracket?
On February 15th, after the cut-off for the event, a blank bracket will be completed by the Events Coordinator and made available to the public. All you have to do is download a blank bracket and fill in your predictions. Once you have filled in your bracket, you will email it to the events coordinator and your bracket will be made public for all to see. That's it. Your bracket will be scored and updated as the competition progresses.
How will the brackets be scored?
Due to the number of controllers that will be participating, there will be 6 rounds of competition. Each win will be awarded a certain number of points depending on the round. The scoring is shown below:
Round 1: 64 Controllers competing - Each win in this round will be worth 1 point. (32 points possible)
Round 2: 32 Controllers competing - Each win in this round will be worth 2 points. (32 points possible)
Round 3: 16 Controllers competing - Each win in this round will be worth 4 points. (32 points possible)
Round 4: 8 Controllers competing - Each win in this round will be worth 6 points. (24 points possible)
Round 5: 4 Controllers competing - Each win in this round will be worth 8 points. (16 points possible)
Round 6: 2 Controllers competing - Each win in this round will be worth 14 points (14 points possible)
Total Points Possible: 150
For the final round, all bracket competitors will be asked to provide the total hours controlled by the final two controllers. For example if you think Controller A will beat Controller B by a score of 20hours to 15hours, you will enter 35 as your guess. This will be used to break any tie that may occur at the end of the competition. Of the tied leaders, the competitor with the closest guess to the actual score will be declared the winner. It does not matter who is the finals but if there is any kind of a tie at the end of the last round, this tie braker will come into effect.
How long is each round?
The competition dates are as follows:
Round 1: February 28 0000z thru March 4 at 2359z - February 27 at 6:00pm Central thru March 4 at 5:59pm Central
Round 2: March 7 0000z thru March 11 at 2259z - March 6 at 6:00pm Central thru March 11 at 5:59pm Central
Round 3: March 14 0000z thru March 18 at 2359z - March 13 at 7:00pm Central thru March 18 at 6:59pm Central
Round 4: March 21 0000z thru March 25 at 2359z - March 20 at 7:00pm Central thru March 25 at 6:59pm Central
Round 5: March 28 0000z thru April 1 at 2359z - March 27 at 7:00pm Central thru April 1 at 6:59pm Central
Round 6: April 4 at 0000z thru April 8 at 2359z - April 3 at 7:00pm Central thru April 8 at 6:59pm Central
What are the prizes?
Of course, the reason to compete other than for the bragging rights! The winner of the competition will recieve a download code for the FlightBeam KDEN scenery that is still in production, a prize value of approximately $30-$50. If you have the highest scoring bracket, you will win a prize that is yet to be determined.
