2007 Championship dates

[Guy_E]

Does anyone know when will the 2007 FIRST Championship in Atlanta be?
Is there someplace where I can see all the 2007's dates (from the Kickoff till the Championship), or they have yet been published?

Thanks, Guy

[Billfred]

Not all of the dates have been announced, but I got an email from FIRST saying the 2007 Championship will be April 12-14.

[AmyPrib]

It begins April 12th, 2007.
If I find a full list of 2007 events, I'll post it. I hadn't looked, but I know that Champs is already scheduled.

[Rob2713g]

If I'm not mistaken, Kickoff is always the first Saturday of January. So that would be January 6th. After that you can calculate in 6 weeks for build to determine ship date. As far as regionals, the dates will be similar, but of course anything could change.

[SamC]

Didn't FIRST's contract with the Atl. people end this year? If so did they resign for a few more years or will thier be a venue change?

[Rob2713g]

Didn't FIRST's contract with the Atl. people end this year? If so did they resign for a few more years or will thier be a venue change?

I heard that they resigned for 4 more years.

[Katie Reynolds]

If I'm not mistaken, Kickoff is always the first Saturday of January. So that would be January 6th. After that you can calculate in 6 weeks for build to determine ship date. As far as regionals, the dates will be similar, but of course anything could change.Usually the Tuesday after the sixth week is ship so, for 2007 I would guess the build to run from January 6 - February 20.

[Joe J.]

Didn't FIRST's contract with the Atl. people end this year? If so did they resign for a few more years or will thier be a venue change?

If memory serves yes the original 3 year contract was up after 2006, but a few months ago FIRST announced the they renewed it for 2007 and retained the option of renewing for 2008 & 2009.

/Edit/ Here's the FIRST Announcement:

2007 FIRST Championship Site Announced

TO: FIRST Community
FROM: Bob Tuttle, Executive Director
Steve Chism, Senior Director of Programs

RE: 2007 FIRST Championship Site
DATE: August 22, 2004

FIRST is very pleased to announce the selection of Atlanta as the host city for the 2007 FIRST Championship. With the 2006 Championship already committed to Atlanta, 2007 will mark the fourth consecutive year our premier event will be held at the Georgia Dome. The 2007 agreement includes options to continue in Atlanta for 2008 and 2009.

Our decision to return to Atlanta is based on the city’s combination of event facilities, accommodations, transportation and attractions. The FIRST Championship will once again showcase the FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST LEGO League and the pilot of FIRST Vex Challenge. All three competitions will be based in the Georgia Dome and the adjacent Georgia World Congress Center.

Atlanta’s rich history of hosting world class sporting events and its proven ability to superbly host our Championship event make it a perfect fit for the FIRST Championship.

We look forward to the city’s genuine Southern hospitality making it a wonderful host city for the FIRST teams and their families.


Thread on announcement (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39398)

[nuggetsyl]

If memory serves yes the original 3 year contract was up after 2006, but a few months ago FIRST announced the they renewed it for 2007 and retained the option of renewing for 2008 & 2009.
Oh god please do not keep sending us to alt

[artdutra04]

Oh god please do not keep sending us to altLogistically, there are not many cities in the United States that can host the Championships. You can't just say "The Championships should be held in X city because they have X stadium." There are many more factors that go into choosing the location for the Championships, and FIRST will pick the best location because of these factors.

Atlanta is particularly well suited for hosting the Championships, and that is probably where it will remain for the foreseeable future.

[Joe J.]

If your interested in the discussion on possible Championship sites, the Championships location from 07 and onwards (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37700) thread has 20 pages worth.

[GaryVoshol]

It's also on the GA dome website.

[jackie Ha]

to be honest, i want to see the championship over here on the west side. i mean no offense but there are a bit more teams over in the west side.

[santosh]

^That is very true. I am starting to kinda want to be more than a 15 minute drive away from the Championships. I hear it doesn't have the same feel when you live next to it as it does when it is have way across the country. Atleast it is a lot cheaper for us lol ;)

But does anyone know why it was moved up 2 weeks earlier. Was it to stop conflicting with prom, I doubt that, or was it to stop conflicting with AP Test studying?

[Koko Ed]

to be honest, i want to see the championship over here on the west side. i mean no offense but there are a bit more teams over in the west side.
Outside of California I think the East has more teams than the west does. If they do change the championship it'll probably go the the midwest.

[KathieK]

But does anyone know why it was moved up 2 weeks earlier. Was it to stop conflicting with prom, I doubt that, or was it to stop conflicting with AP Test studying?The date varies slightly from year to year (it was a couple of weeks earlier back in 2004 also), and I suspect has more to do with when the venue is available than anything else.

[Jeff Waegelin]

But does anyone know why it was moved up 2 weeks earlier. Was it to stop conflicting with prom, I doubt that, or was it to stop conflicting with AP Test studying?

This is about the same time of the month that Nationals was in 2003, and possibly 2001 (though my memory on that one is less clear). There are lots of factors that go into it, among them venue availability, the timing of Easter (spring break makes a big impact on venue availability, plus hotels and other travel arrangements), and the date of kickoff (a later kickoff means competition season starts later). In 6 years, I've seen everything from the second weekend of April to the last.

Looking at this year's schedule, we had:
Kickoff: January 7
Ship Day: Feb 21
First Regional: Mar 2-4
Last Regional: Mar 30-Apr 1
Easter: Apr 16
Championship: Apr 27-Apr 29

Judging by this, FIRST probably chose the later date because they didn't want to have the Championship right after the last week of regionals, Easter was the following weekend, and the weekend after that would be part of most schools' spring break. Thus, the last weekend would be preferable.

Going by a similar schedule, next year might look something like this:
Kickoff: January 6
Ship Day: Feb 20
First Regional: Mar 1-3
Last Regional: Mar 29-31
Easter: Apr 8
Championship: Apr 12-Apr 14

With this schedule, the Championship would be during a lot of schools' spring break, so that was probably not a deciding factor this time around. Looking at the Georgia Dome calendar though, there was the "2007 ASUG Annual Conference-SAPPHIRE'07 " scheduled from 4/22-4/26, which would likely tie up both of the last 2 weekends in April. So, if that event was scheduled first, it's most likely the reason for an earlier date.

Interestingly enough, the calendar also lists "FIRST Robotics Championship" on 4/16-4/19/08 ;)

[Michelle Celio]

But does anyone know why it was moved up 2 weeks earlier. Was it to stop conflicting with prom, I doubt that, or was it to stop conflicting with AP Test studying?

With dates like that, it might affect many Florida proms. I know my schools this year was April 8th.

It would be hard to find a date that wouldn't affect anyone's schedule.