Offseason Field Rental

[Dr.Gusta]

So team 5107 is in the process of planning an offseason event in the Inland Empire (Assault on the Empire). We have almost secured the location (Upland High School) for July 18-20th and we are trying to use this as a fundraiser for the team so food will be sold, raffles held and t-shirts sold. We are making good progress but are going to have a hell of a time making the money to ship the field. AndyMark is about 2,000 miles away so 4,000 round trip and $2.00 a mile that figures to $8,000 in just shipping! If we can expect 40 teams at $200 each comes out to $8,000 which would be spent in just getting the field here.We know we can make a wooden field for $2,000 but we feel like it will lower the quality of our event and we would be stuck with a field. Is there an event possibly taking place closer to us that we can ship the field from there? Thoughts? Ideas?

[MrTechCenter]

So team 5107 is in the process of planning an offseason event in the Inland Empire (Assault on the Empire). We have almost secured the location (Upland High School) for July 18-20th and we are trying to use this as a fundraiser for the team so food will be sold, raffles held and t-shirts sold. We are making good progress but are going to have a hell of a time making the money to ship the field. AndyMark is about 2,000 miles away so 4,000 round trip and $2.00 a mile that figures to $8,000 in just shipping! If we can expect 40 teams at $200 each comes out to $8,000 which would be spent in just getting the field here.We know we can make a wooden field for $2,000 but we feel like it will lower the quality of our event and we would be stuck with a field. Is there an event possibly taking place closer to us that we can ship the field from there? Thoughts? Ideas?

Our event (Sacramento), CalGames (San Jose), Fall Classic (Burbank), Battle at the Border (San Diego), Tucson Tussle (Tucson, Arizona), and MadTown Throwdown (Madera) all used the FIRST CA field last year. You want to contact FIRST HQ to get the paperwork filled to be able to borrow the field, the only cost to you will be insurance. However, you would be responsible for transporting the field from its storage unit in San Jose to your event and back. Additionally, you will also be responsible for loading and unloading the field at the storage unit, and you must work with the PlaySpace in San Jose (who stores the field) to coordinate pickup and drop off.

[Gregor]

Just a word of advice, that's probably not the best date for an offseason, as it's the same weekend as IRI usually is.

[Alan Anderson]

Yep, that's IRI weekend this year. You're not likely to be able to use an AndyMark field then.

[Mr V]

Just a word of advice, that's probably not the best date for an offseason, as it's the same weekend as IRI usually is.

Personally I wouldn't consider that to be a big concern, there are a limited number of teams that are able to attend and I do not know that there are that many that come from CA and there are a lot of teams in CA. Yes the Andy Mark field would not be available at that time but there seems to be a field in CA that could be available.

[Chief Hedgehog]

Alright,

Rookie question here - who are the vendors that make/rent these fields out? There must be about 20+ floating around during the season.

Thanks!

[Mr V]

Alright,

Rookie question here - who are the vendors that make/rent these fields out? There must be about 20+ floating around during the season.

Thanks!

FIRST has a fabricator near them that makes all of the fields that they use.

For the field perimeters that Washington FIRST Robotics has there was some exploration of local fabricators to construct them from FIRST's plans. The lowest quote was about $10K per field more so purchasing it from the fabricator in NH was significantly cheaper even after shipping ~3000 mi. Presumably a big part of that difference is due to their years of experience constructing the official field perimeter and they likely have jigs to make the fabrication easier. The game specific field pieces like this years high and low goals all come from FIRST's fabricator.

[billbo911]

Our event (Sacramento), CalGames (San Jose), Fall Classic (Burbank), Battle at the Border (San Diego), Tucson Tussle (Tucson, Arizona), and MadTown Throwdown (Madera) all used the FIRST CA field last year..... However, you would be responsible for transporting the field from its storage unit in San Jose to your event and back. Additionally, you will also be responsible for loading and unloading the field at the storage unit, and you must work with the PlaySpace in San Jose (who stores the field) to coordinate pickup and drop off.

As of the close of the Sacramento Regional this year, FIRST CA did not own a field yet. It was high on the list of priorities to buy one, but the funds had not been secured to do so yet. So, I would suggest you not count on having access to that field just yet. Be patient, I'm sure things will fall into place. Your best bet is to stay in contact with FIRST CA.