I'll save you a potential witch hunt; it was me. I didn't mean to make it quite that dramatic, I just got busy with household chores and forgot about the deadline I was waiting this long because I was very on the line between the two zoos and had not decided if I would even vote yet; I wanted to absorb as many arguments as possible before jumping in. I can post an explanation of my vote shortly; I think that would be fair given the results.
We’ve already had our equivalent of the Hail Mary pass, so it’ll need to be good. In answer to the question above about what happens now: the tie stands.
So I knew this match was coming and initially suspected that Bronx would be the favorite, given its numerous large, beautiful grassland paddocks. However, a few came out swinging for Vienna and had some really compelling arguments in their favor. I actually spent most of yesterday and today thinking I would vote Vienna. The first thing about Vienna is that in Deserts, I think it probably wins. The degree to which that biome is represented and the conservation work noted for desert species, along with Bronx's respectable but not particularly noteworthy competition, made that pretty clear. The second thing about Vienna that I really liked is how good some of the *indoor* enclosures look. Realistically I'm sure many European zoos have to keep their animals inside often, or at least give them the choice; choosing to invest in such large and well-designed indoor spaces is therefore a commendable choice, especially when options are limited for the outdoor dwellings. However, after today's additional posts from @ThylacineAlive about miscellaneous Bronx attributes, and especially after @TZDugong reminded me of the staggering support that the zoo gives to conservation, I leaned slightly back into the Bronx camp. I still like Bronx's outdoor enclosures a lot more, and it didn't fall far enough behind Vienna anywhere to overcome the conservation bit for me. My personal feelings are aligned closer to 4-3 or even 5-4 Bronx, but considering how close the vote was going to be already I didn't feel too guilty about my own margin.
Just a reminder to everybody - while Coelacanth18’s vote was the most dramatic one in this match, everybody who voted was as much the casting vote as they were. Your vote matters.
I have thought of a way to resolve the conflict randomly choose a member who didn’t participate in this thread and ask them what there opinion is. This is the only fair tiebreaker
I'm pretty sure the cup is just going to continue forward with this match having ended in a tie. Unless I'm mistaken both zoos still have two matches to participate in anyway. Otherwise I'd say the only fair tiebreaker would be a rematch round under a different category. ~Thylo
A tie is perfectly acceptable as the two zoos can always battle it out 'percentage-wise' if by chance they happen to finish with identical win/loss records.
The above is correct. There is no need to resolve ties in a round robin format with vote percentages serving as a tie-breaker.