CPiGuy wrote:I'm considering for Michigan's tournaments just outright banning teams of more than six, and teams of more than five when a school brings 2 or more teams, but that's not something I expect every tournament host to do.
It's your call, but in my opinion, this isn't a good idea. I think the reason most schools bring more than six people is because of the extra cost/hassle associated with having two teams at a tournament. Most teams that bring two teams are relatively new to quizbowl, and banning them from having more than six people on a team would just lead to them bringing a team of six instead of a team of twelve or two teams of six each. While this might be easier for the stats (I sympathize with your plight), limiting team size would lead to people who are interested enough in quizbowl to wake up on a Saturday morning to go to a tournament to be turned away.
Perhaps you can provide incentives to teams that reduce their size by, for example, giving discounts to new teams that bring teams of reasonable sizes. As teams get used to six-person teams, they might, after a while, start bringing six-person teams even without having to be incentivized. There's a reason why Okemos A generally has 5 people on it, and there's a reason why certain people sub in and out when they do. The people on Okemos A have known each other for a while, and it would seem odd if, say, we suddenly brought 8 people to one tournament while only having one team registered. Simply put, we've gotten used to our team size, and I presume any other team that has the ability to find its optimal team size will do so once it has a decent enough understanding of quizbowl strategy and team chemistry. Until then, in order to prevent them from bringing large teams, I think incentivizing new schools with decent-sized teams would be good. I agree that large team sizes are cumbersome and annoying, but I don't think an outright ban on them will be beneficial in the long term.