Order of Team Numbers...
 

People, 2003 being my first year in FIRST, I don't know much about the past history.

I was looking at the book about the 2002 and the 2003 games, and noticed that the earlier team numbers do not go in order by the rookie years, like I thought they would/should.

Like, for instance...

Team 1's rookie year is '97
Team 45's rookie year is '92 and
Team 21's rookie year is '98.

What gives? In the past, did FIRST let you choose your own team number up to a certain digit? Is my theory correct? Is this all a huge error that desperately needs to be corrected?

In FIRST's early days team numbers changed from year to year. Also, sometimes when a team changed sponsers, they changed team numbers. I don't know which year FIRST changed to permanent numbers, or what rule they used to determine who got which number, but that is the basic answer to your question.

Stephen

PS. I've only been in FIRST for 3 years, so I am relating this information based on stories I've heard. Perhaps someone more steeped in FIRST lore can fill us in with details?

I heard that there were 800 teams this year. The team numbers are up in the thousands.

Note: many teams have dropped out over the year and they never gave rookies team the old numbers that aren't in use anymore.


Back in 1998 FIRST renumbered and grouped their teams by sponsors, alphabetically I believe

in 1998 Team 1 was sponsored by 3-Dimensional systems(?) (I think thats the name of that company)

21 is sponsored by Boeing I believe

Teams 44-49 (in 98 were all Delphi teams)
Now only 45 (Technokats), 47 (Chief Delphi) and 48 (Delphi E.L.I.T.E.) remain as Delphi teams.

64-68 are GM teams, Gila Monsters, Huskie Brigade, Willow Run HS (I think they are known as the Flyers this year), HOT team and Truck Town Thunder.

Team 69 is Gillette

and then 108 and 111 are Motorola Teams
---------------
Originally our team (45) was team 31 in 1997 and then became 45 in 1998. Kit Gerhart would be the right person to ask since he has been involved since 1996-ish

I heard the numbers were ordered alphabetically from 1992-1998. Depending what the first letter of your team name or sponsor name, that is the number you recieved for that year. In 1998, they changed it and allowed all teams to keep the number they have, so they would no longer change. So, if your rookie year was 1998, and your name started with an A you very well could have been team number 1.

There were no numbers until 1996 (I believe thats the right year)

Does anyone know what the highest team number was in 1998? I know my team (201) was a late addition, so it's around the low 200s.

According to the 2000 program (oldest one I have) the last team that was a rookie in 1998 was 208...209 is listed as a rookie in 1999

In 1998 they ordered the teams alphabeticly by sponser. Since then, you get a number based on the order you sign up in. Teams that drop out do not have their numbers reassinged.
Some teams have droped out and come back and gotten their number back. RIT got 73 back this year.


Wetzel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Floop is a madman.

Team 35 had a team several years ago, and they re-joined FIRST this year and got their team number back. That is what I was told by one of their drive team members...

Yea, that is how we got our number - 5!!

AFL!! (our sponsor rocks!)

My team is 180 and our rookie year was 1998. Team 179, Swamp Thing and our team, 180, SPAM, were both started by Pratt & Whitney.

even better:

teams 173 through 181 are all sponsored by UTC

i think it would be neat to see all the UTC teams at the UTC regional one year...

what do ya think, SPAM and Swamp Thing? how's a trip to new england in early march sound?

*imagines a frozen SPAMcicle on a stick*

oh man, i would be soo in for that... except i won't be on the team next year :(

bah.. college... what was i thinking? i could be a bum or flip burgers the rest of life...

/me thinks not

I been an X-Cat for only two years so I don't really know how the numbers were dealt out "back in the day" but I saw one of our old robots has a 27 on it and another is a 151.
Very confusing.

I hope FIRST never changes team numbers again. Somehow, MOE as 293 or something like that dosn't seem right...

Think of all the people with #'s in their domain names.

soap108.com .. feds201.com ..

that'd be a nightmare (for the teams).

Chief Delphi Robot 1997

One thing I did hear on our field at Nationals that kinda shocked me was that the announcer said "Well see...since these teams have lower numbers they've been in FIRST longer." (it wasnt exactly like that, but close) I was actually kinda shocked that it was said by someone working for FIRST.

Not EVERYone from FIRST is a diety....:yikes: The statement is very true, even though teams under 208 were mixed up at one point or another, they've still been around the longer. All those teams have been around since 1998 or before.

Of course, he still may not know about the switches before 1999.

Our original number was 23, then 47(I think), 63 and now 88...

I don't think that SPAM's has ever changed. This is my first year though and maybe I just didn't hear about the change.

We used to be team 4.

food for thought...
 

back in 1999 when our sponsors changed and schools involved in the team and team name changed we got a new number, 250. befor ethat i am not sure exactly what number we were, i think we were in the mid 20's, but we are an origional team from 1992. now how is that for confusing. we are an origional team one of six left an our number is in the mid 200's. we have never missed a year of competition either.

~Mike

Does anyone know where the first FIRST team is/was from??

We were team 107 in 1997 (our rookie year). In 1998, we were renumbered as 93.

The reason there are 800 teams, and team numbers are up in the thousands, is because FIRST doesn't reuse numbers of teams not competing anymore. If they did, that would be a nightmare! He he - think about it: the announcer at a competition says, "And rookie team number 2 ... ..." Yikes. Not to mention the fact that it reissuing lower numbers to rookie teams would probably confuse a lot of people who have been around for a while! :yikes:

- Katie

Well the whole changing numbers thing was a bad idea. They should have always just stuck with the static numbers that they do now.

i think so also AJ because you go to an event and you see a team labled a rookie when they have been here for 10 years and just changed sponsors so there number changes and they are a "rookie" again.
~Dez

I don't think FIRST requires teams that switch sponsors to switch numbers anymore. I believe that rule was eliminated in the 2000 season.

yeah i think so now also but when we switched after the 1998 season, we changed numbers so in 1999 we were labled a rookie team when in truth our team has been here since 1992.

~Mike

Yes.. but is it possible for your sponsor to keep your number, and sponsor another school?

i know this year we kept our number as a team and we had 3 more schools join the team, but if you mean a team go no more and a new school picks up and gets that sponsor and they get your old number, then i dont know, that would be wierd.

~Mike

I know RAGE has been around since 95-96 somewhere around there. And i am sure that the UTC teams during 98 were like that because they must have taken the UTC not Pratt or the subsidaries and then gone from the oldest team, us, to the newest team 181. But back a few years ago we were around 141'ish and have been 173 since 98'.

Thanks
 

Looks like I finally have the answer here.

Hmm... makes me wonder. Why would FIRST organize the team numbers by the sponsors? Why not High School names?

I sort of understand. You must respect the sponsor.

Hey, I'm finally a Junior Member!

Well... most of the time, the sponsor is listed first in the official team name. If you sort alphabetically, the list ends up being arranged alphabetically by primary sponsor.

wow...it's all so complicated. So does that mean juggernauts weren't really teh first team?! Ahh! This confuses me....

Nope, but since they were around in 1998, when the current numbering system started, and their sponsor was 3-Dimensional Services, they came first in the alphabetical order, and got the honor of being Team #1.

Team 38's sponsor was 9th Wave, which explains where we they are now. Since then, they've lost 9th wave and are sponsorless, aside from slight school and community support. Wonder what they would have ordered a team with no sponsor...

Ellen
 

I thought the same...

It's really simple to understand. Start from the beginning...

If your sponsor was 1st Keys or something, you're team #1.

If your sponsor was Zyroast Lights... you're team #299 or so.

This changed in '99 when FIRST started going by the order that the teams registered, and the previous teams kept their number.

Who are the original teams?

Re: Ellen
 

FIRST recognizes 19, 45, 126, 190, 191 and 250 as the original teams remaining. 111 is technically an original team, but they are not recognized by FIRST

They would be placed where their high school would fall in place

A few (like 201) got tacked on at the end, too, because of late registration. My team had no sponsor, and our school is Rochester High School, so we would've been placed further ahead in the numbering, but because we were one of the last teams to register in 98, we were placed at the end, after the numbers had already been assigned.