If it were any other year besides the year after Stanford, I would suggest Berkeley, seeing as how I already have multiple possible rooms in mind with the ability to get them. Maybe some other year (I can dream, can't I?).
Manpower isn't as much of a concern in my opinion; I think the participation of California cubers this year at MIT is showing that you will have enough manpower to run a competition; you really just need one or two experienced strong people already in the area in question to make things work. (This would make a place in Minnesota work, for example, because I know Bryan would be able to lead a team in organizing Nationals, no matter where they were from).
As I think I mentioned before, anywhere in California is easy to do; Berkeley and Stanford cover all of Norcal (not happening because of Nats 09), and Caltech (and Adam Zamora, really) is doing an excellent job in Socal. Chicago seems like an attractive option as well, with Chicago O'Hare to fly into (Midway for you Southwest fans), a large vibrant city, and KOII in the area in terms of established cuber presence. I'm not sure if there's a cubing scene going on at Northwestern seeing as how I've never been in the area.
In general, I (personally) like university settings (assuming we have a contact or club at the university in question) more: generally you will have auditoriums with nice lighting handy, as well as a billion nearby rooms in which to do side events like MultiBLD if necessary. You also generally will have convenient lodging in the area, as well as places for food and things to do unless you're at UC Merced or something (and even then, there's Yosemite nearby). Note: I'm not actually suggesting we use UC Merced.
Middle and high schools in my opinion tend to be less than ideal in terms of exposure; also, in my opinion most schools (especially middle) don't have the facilities necessary (not just auditorium; also parking, convenient lodging, food, etc.) for a competition with the scope of Nationals. And, really, just imagine the media announcement: US Nationals, held at SomeRandom High School. A little less credibility than US Nationals, being held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This is partially because I'm in California, but I would caution against having another competition on the East Coast (NYC, DC, etc.), as costs for some of the West Coast cubers can get quite high in terms of flights. Seeing as how we're all flying into Boston this year, somewhere a bit more West would be nice.
And as a nitpick to
I think it is a good place to hold a competition and you could use Stanford of Berkley as a venue plus California has the most cubers in the US according to CubingUSA.com. San Fransisco also has many places people would like to visit so that may help the popularity.
It's Berkeley. As in University of California, Berkeley, in Berkeley, CA. And Stanford. As in Stanford University, in Stanford, CA or Palo Alto, CA depending on who you ask. Two different schools on two sides of the Bay who fight over a really old axe every year.
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