FIRST moving to Indy?
 

I was a scorekeeper at the Midwest Regional this weekend and had the chance to chat with some FIRST reps at the event. They were talking about FIRST moving its headquarters to Indianapolis. Lots of emails have been going around the organization talking about this. This discussion came from very reliable sources.

What do ya'll think the chances of this actually being reality could be? :confused:

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Hrrm. Perhaps the game next year will be a race and the field will be asphalt. :D Anyway, while there's nothing specifically wrong with the move, I think they should stay where they come from. Where DK and DEKA and the Segway and all that stuff originated. What's in Indianapolis besides IRI and the Indy 500?

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

I would LOVE to see the FIRST headquarters move to Indy :cool: , but purely for selfish reasons. I want go get much more involved in volunteering directly with FIRST, and that move would certainly make it easier. However I must agree with sanddrag's comments above. Tradition should count for something. :)

I would be interested to know who was discussing this option, and what "power" they actually have to make it happen ...

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

(shudders)

DK - April 1st isn't until Thursday.

On a lark, let's imagine that this is true. If FIRST were to move, Indy is not a bad place to be. The NCAA headquarters are here. The downtown athletic/convention facility is world class (NCAA final four is here about every 4 years, among other big events). Indianapolis claims to be the "amateur sports capital of the world", since Indiana has such a high focus on high school and college sports. Indy is safe, centrally located, and has a cheap housing market. Travelling in and out of Indy is very easy.

But, why put it in Indy, where only up the road about 40 miles is a city that calls itself the "City of Firsts"? That is where FIRST should re-locate. It's natural, the "City of Firsts", home of FIRST. Imagine that! What is that city, you ask? Well, that would be Kokomo, Indiana. :)

City of Firsts

Andy B.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

I'm with Stu. FIRST would be cool to have in the hometown. I could actually go to the "garage sales" and get cheap FIRST stuff. Maybe Dean would move here too ;) I'm not sure what benefits it would have for the FIRST community....centralized location? After all the midwest is the powerhouse of FIRST :D
Eric

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Hmm. Now this is an interesting rumor!

Now for the pros and cons:

Pro:
-Travel: Logistically easier and cheaper for the country to travel there, since it is in a more central location than Manch-vegas will ever be. Also serves as a central location to send things from. (I'm assuming the Indy airport is larger than Manch's, and thus has more flights and is more accessible. If this is not the case, let me know).
-Cheaper: Doing a quick Salary.com cost-of living calculation, persons working at FIRST in Indianapolis as opposed to persons working at FIRST in Manchester would see a raise of $2,773 in disposable income (assuming they make 50K a year...but the percent changes don't change based on income). The cost of living in Indy is 8.3% lower than living in Manch, and the typical salary decrease from being in Indy as opposed to being in Manch would only be 2.4%. So, it works out better for the employees.

Con:
-Moving people: Yikes, this could get ugly. People like where they live, and moving them could be hard. And, if many people left FIRST because of the move, you'd have to find lots of people to replace them. And this is nothing against the midwesterners, but in any place where a major employee shift occurs can cause serious damage to the company. I'm not saying FIRST can't handle it, its just...tough.
-Leaving Dean: In one of his many interviews, Dean decided on NH because "he read the license plate and thought 'Live Free or Die' appealed to him". With DEKA, Segway, and Dean's house all situated in the Manch-vegas area, it will be hard for him to stay in personal touch with the day-to-day operations of FIRST if its in a whole other region. This might have reprocussions we haven't even thought of yet, or it could be that Dean feels that FIRST is in enough good hands that he can step back. Or it means Dean is moving to Indy with FIRST, and leaving DEKA and Segway behind...but I honestly don't see that happening.

Plus, personally I'd be able to visit FIRST and Sigma Kappa National HQ all at once, thus it's better for me! :D But that also means no more driving to Manch-vegas to do cool FIRST stuff....cause Indy is much further away :(

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

not only would it be easier for teams to travel to the FIRST headquarters for kickoff meetins and other events

it would be easier for the FIRST people to BeBop around the nation during the regionals and championship - flying 1000 to 1400 miles in an afternoon isnt so bad, but them LA to NH flights are a killer.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

here's a thought....can they keep the headquarters where it is now and simply have another building in a seperate, 2nd location to operate out of (sort of like a regional branch)? Could there be any advantages/disadvantages to that?

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

How about this? If FIRST had their HQ at Indianapolis, they also could have The Championship Event at The RCA Dome and the Indiana Convention Center. They are linked just like Atlanta's facilities are. FIRST has Atlanta booked for this year and two more years. That should give them plenty of time to move their offices to Indy and get ready for a "home-town" Championship Event. Having the Championship Event in the same city as their headquarters would reduce their cost of having the event, as all the FIRST HQ'ers would not have to travel.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

If I remember correctly, Indianapolis is actually a shipping hub for FedEx, one of the few in the country. I know the National FedEx hub is in Tennesee(Although I don't remember which city, I belive it is Memphis.) Since all the crates are shipped with FedEx, it'd be closer to headquarters. Although the crates, if I'm correct, are not shipped to FIRST headquarters. So I dunno, I was just expanding a bit.

I think it would be a really good idea becuase of how centralized the Midwest is. I know that for kickoff, it would most likely be easier for many team leaders to get to Indy rather than Manchester, and the weather may make things a bit easier for them. And as ebmonon36 said..heh, we'd get to easily attend the garage sales now, which would be awesome.


That may be a possibility, Mayor Bart Peterson seems alwyas happy to generate more travel within Indy. We have the Indy 500, the F-1 race, NCAA championship, BOA Grand Nationals, and several other things. It is good for the economy of the city, and as of late, there has been a lot of talk about a new stadium being built for the Colts, so more money coming in right now is always a plus.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

"There's more in Indiana than corn" :]

People have already basically listed the good and bad things of this potential move, so I won't touch on that too much... If FIRST HQ did move to Indy, it would be a more central location for the country. There are so many sports venues in Indy it's insane...

Also, it'd be so awesome for us Indiana teams :D

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

I see the benefits of having FIRST in a more central location (and closer to all the powerhouse teams in the midwest).

However,(maybe I'm being selfish) FIRST did start in NH, it makes sense to keep the HQ here. I like the idea of establishing another branch though that Stephen Kowski had.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Mr Kelly--

I'm really hoping that they don't move. I live less than 20 minutes from the Manchester Headquarters and I think that it's really cool that I'm part of a team that is in the state where FIRST was not only started, but also based. I don't know exactly how FIRST thinks (does anyone?), but I really don't think they'd move the Headquarters out of the state the organization was started in, do you?

--Jake

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Pshhhh Manch-Vegas is where its at. There is no need to move the headquarters. Kick off you say is a problem? Hence regional kick-offs around the nation. Hard to get to if you actually need to be there? We have a large airport ladies and gentlemen, and if its not big enough for you there is this little place called Boston with an even bigger airport less than an hour away. But honestly the headquarters doesn't need to be in a central location.....teams do not need to come to Manchester like you used to for kick-off, and thats really the only reason you'd come to the headquarters. Keep it where it all started from. If needed a satellite location would be the 2nd best option.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

MR Kelly ... ???? :ahh:

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU JAKE ???
David doesn't deserve that type of respect ... :D

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

This seems a little weird to me. FIRST has a lot of connections in Manchester, Deka of course and AutoDesk is down the street and local companies such as MMH Ventures and Batteries Plus have offered very nice deals. Plus FIRST spent a LOT of money on their Manchester building, IIRC Dean renovated it for them and they pay him a big mortgage. The advantage to moving would be easier travel and more media coverage, so if they were going to move it would make much more sense to put the headquarters in New York and the engineering department in Indiana, but that opens up a whole other can of worms. I don't know if I buy this but FIRST has certainly done weirder things.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Didn't you hear? After Atlanta, they aren't having nationals anymore.

:)

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Hee. Yeah, and Im transferring to engineering school :P

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Yeah, and I'm JVN! :p

I remember Joe's joke....oh it was classic! He scared a lot of people that morning :P

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Andy, a week ago I would have supported you on this, but I jest read in the paper about another "first" in Kokomo. It's that "hum" that is in town and causes headaches, arthritis and other terrible diseases in residents. Ir must be true, because it was in the paper and included pictures and a map and quotes from people and even was on two pages of the paper. The peper was even the Indianapolis Star, not the "National Enquirer".

And so, the best option is indy, home to six FIRST teams, baseball, the Dome, the convention center, Children's Museum, IMAX, the 500, the F1 and Brickyard, major corporations and lots of other great things.

Plus, home to the nations best mexican food (Acapulco Joes)* and the worlds best pizza (Bazbeaux)*.


* this sentence added only to incite lots of angry posts totally unrelated to the original title of this thread..... :ahh:

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

also, Indiana has begun the Indiana2016 campaign in the last few years that has spotlighted technology in school and moreso FIRST Robotics.

and dad...Donato's has the best pizza

and we have the world's largest Christmas tree!

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

You're both wrong, Papa Johns = the best pizza ever.

If FIRST HQ comes to Indy, let's throw them a pizza party :D

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

When I heard about this I thought about the automotive industries around the midwest? Could FIRST be trying to get closer to the big bucks of the American Automotive Industry or any other big sponsors around here?

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

A move to Indy would be awesome for a lot of us, however, I am not sure I can see them moving that far away from not only Dean, but Woody and his MIT home. The idea of having another office location sounds like something I could see happening. Indy is obviously more centrally located than Manchester and it does have a lot to offer. Very interesting post, David!! :ahh:

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Than FIRST's headquarters should be in Boston!

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

hey now... actually, 'Papa John' himself went to BSU and graduated from the business college here. The very first Papa John's was on the campus.

So in that case... Should headquarters be in Muncie, IN? ;)

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Ahhh!
Don't scream at me!
I called him Mr. Kelly out of habit...our team's coach's name's (one...two...three 's's lol) is Dave Kelly, and he's a teacher at our school, so I'm used to calling Dave Kelly's Mr. Kelly. (one, two, three, four, five...)

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Papa John's isnt as good as Sal's, which has a little place set up about 5 minutes from HQ. :)

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Those two (three?) timing scoundrels! I can barely turn on a red-sox game without hearing about how "Boston" Papa Johns is

...and they're headquarters is in Kentucky!

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

That's why Sal's is better. Same Bostonian Style Pizza, but a loyal man owns it! ;P Go Sal's!

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Not only 'Papa John" but Dave Letterman too. That has to get them some points.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

:ahh:
Hmm ... could you let us know where those big bucks are, we've been looking for them for a while ... :D

Personally, I don't believe in a move. Whilst it would make sense in terms of logistics (FedEx, Kickoff, venues) and operating cost (lower cost of living), the move would swallow a lot of money, and move FIRST away from the prestigeous MIT, and Dean. Sure, Indy and Indiana have a lot of good teams, but so do other cities and states. Tradition, unfortunately, has no bearing on this decision, though. Tradition cannot be measured in return on investment, and is out of the modern location management's decision process.

Having said that ... I'd love to have FIRST be in my home town :cool:

Stef

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

... and in typical CD fashion a potentially interesting topic is quickly converted to mush about pizza

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Told ya -


PS - Letterman only went to BSU - I don't think that it is his hometown.
BTW - did you know he started as a weatherman on an Indy news station -

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Yep, pretty much. You know this crazy ChiefDelphi... nothing but useless information and kids ranting about pizza.

Anyway, I'm surprised nobody thought of tapping into the sports teams here?

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Maybe we could introduce Dean to Jim Ursay, then we could just pull up a Mayflower moving van to the Manceser HQ and move the whole thing here overnight. Worked once, anyway.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

You better not. That's all I'm going to say...

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Letterman also worked as a bag boy at a local grocery store (now closed) on the north side of Indy.
Eric

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Ah yes, I can see it now... the decision to move is going to come down to which city has the best pizza :p

::drool::

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

/me designs a super-pizza creating machine.

Anything to keep FIRST in Manchy

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Cost for gas moving from Baltimore to Indianapolis: $41.09 (587 miles)/vehicle
Cost for gas moving from Manchester to Indianapolis: $69.09 (987 miles)/vehicle

Joy of having the Colts and FIRST HQ in the Crossroads of America:Priceless

"There are somethings money can buy (like gas), for everything else, there's Jim Ursay and a semi."

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Now I take offense to this. Mayflower did the moving, Robert Irsay made the decision and Jim Irsay doesn't seem as bad... yet.

*start sad background music* I had to grow up in a city where there was no professional football. Such a storied history of the Baltimore Colts lost; an owner out to screw the world, and all of us growing up without a team in our home town. Even the great Baltimore Colts (Johnny U) didn't want their history moved. *end sad background music*

But then again, we got rid of a bad owner, and got the Modell family, a new team, a Super Bowl victory, and a new museum :cool: And the Irsay's, well they're in the same place again 20 years later.

Maybe FIRST should just move to the Baltimore/DC area that way they are closer to all those politicians. Plus they won't have to move again 20 years from now.

Unitas We Stand

Steve

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Word through the grape vine says that FIRST is moving to California...

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

All of us have heard that they're moving to Indy... and not just from David, either.

Jeez... believe me, David was NOT lying when he said reliable sources...

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

I believe it but believe me too...

muwahahaha california here comes FIRST!

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

The only problem with moving it to california would be that the powerhouse of teams are also in the east and midwest, and airline rates realistically grow exponentially as you go past Denver. Random comment, but an insight.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Could someone please tell me where this vine of grape is hanging?

I guess it is not in Anderson!

...although one of the largest high school gymnasiums in the country is!

???!!!

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

darn the colts and their lack of superbowl victory! :) oh well...you know there is money in Indy...look at what peyton's getting! maybe he can pull one out this season...man i hope so...come on peyton...please!...something...

sorry. i'm rambling. i'll move on.

as per all the posts about the "powerhouse" effect of the midwest...i'm not sure if that's appropriate or even relevant. FIRST will go (or stay) where it makes the most sense to go (or stay). while the midwest does seem to be a hotbed of competition...FIRST means different things to different people. it's kind of the same as was posted earlier about similar designs by region. the same thing happens with philosophy. different regions work FIRST differently. however...it is all about the "I"

I do know (for about as fact as it can be) that Bart Kamen (big d's little brother) has some contact within Eli Lilly (who just started building a new 650 million dollar drug research laboratory) and moving FIRST to Indy would definately help in the recruitment of such a large potential sponsor.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

I really don't think FIRST would move the HQ out west, mainly because of tradition, Dean living just a little bit away, and Woodie at MIT only 45 minutes in the other direction. Maybe they are thinking about opening up regional offices?

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

I heard they're moving to Japan ;)

Dean-san will be so happy when he finds out.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

I agree Ryan! I think Japan would be a great place to move. However, I do beg to differ. Last I heard they are moving to Siberia.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Or Dean could move to Indy. Plus, he could buy a HUGE house near Indy (or even near Lafayette), as the land prices are MUCH cheaper here than anywhere on the east coast (except maybe U-Farms). Yeah, I agree, the inland location, the corn fields, and the six month winter may bore Dean, but it IS a good central location, and plus, Dean has enough money to build his own biodome (call it Kamenia, Indiana) in Indiana where land is cheap. That way, he can have his own mini-ocean and mini-island in a warm, climate-controlled atmosphere in a frigid cornfield.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

You must not travel much. Assuming you buy far enough in advance, to fly from JFK to Los Angeles, San Franscisco, Denver, and Atlanta are all very close in price, and all are cheaper then Orlando. When you fly out of smaller airports then JFK, the price varies more widely, because of which airports are hubs for different airlines, so then it isn't a fair comparison.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Hey the Bills went 5 times I believe to the Super Bowl almost consectutively if my memory serves me right and then lost everytime. That was when I was living on Long Island in elementary school.

By the way, Dean doesn't need the airlines.... he's got his own jet and a pilot's license. The rest of us do. Most airline operate on the hub and spoke method. I do not recall Idy being a major hub for any carrier. For example:

• Atlanta Hartsfield: Delta
• Chicago: United
• Houston: American
• St. Louis: Northwest
• NY-JFK (John. F. Kennedy International Airport): JetBlue (though its subject to denate - subject to debate but all the advertisements say NYC to somewhere or somehere to NYC and somewhere else - confusing :confused:
• Newark International: Continental

Now, Indy..... naw... they should move to the moon or Mars. :] We're sending robots there anyway. :D :D

In all seriousness. regardless of where the move it to..... hopefully its a nice venue and not sometime soon cause I want to go to Kickoff in NH for once! This is rather selffish, but I think all good readily agree they'd like to go kickoff where ever FIRST is headquartered and Dean, Woody, etc.... will be there.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

But he'd have trouble finding a big hill to build his house on. He does like to have a really broad view of things....

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Indy is a hub for FedEx.:)

You cant forget them or else your robot may come in many pieces.:ahh:

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

True True true. :o But FIRST is about people and not robots. :p I was thinking of how to get the team there. The robot.... Fed EX already goes there and lots of places. :D

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Send him around 40 minutes south of Indy...and that won't be a problem :p

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

I still say the moon or Mars would be better. Then our robots would be allowed to weigh up 130 pounds on the moon (FIRST never said the mass of the Robot has to be 130 pounds).

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

[quote=Ryan Dognaux]You're both wrong, Papa Johns = the best pizza ever.

Sorry Ryan! Donato's is the best pizza.

Ken Loyd
Team 64

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

pounds is not a mass unit. the SI unit is kilograms (shudder...metric). the english (american) is pound-mass (i believe). it comes to about 60 kg

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Four times. :(
*cries*
^ Bill's fan.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Yes you are right but I was refering to this. The weight of an object is W=mg where m is the mass and g is the gravitational constant of where ever you are weighing the object. Mass is a constant where ever you go, weight is not because of g. Hence your robot will weigh more on Earth than the moon due to the Moon's lower gravitaional pull.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Actually the american (English) unit of mass is a slug (officially).

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Whereas, if FIRST and Dean moved to southern California, Dean could try to grab a chunk on top of Palos Verdes before it all falls into the ocean. But, as the pres. of Robinson Helicopters found out, the neighbors might object to helicopters landing in his front yard.

The advantage would be that, at Kickoff, nobody would have to freeze, in NASA WebTV trailers or otherwise. FIRST should have no trouble coming up with an earthquake- and fire-proof building, especially if DEKA helps with the design (do they do architecture?). ;)

The other advantage is, it's on the Pacific Rim. Next stop: Japan.

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Nah. They're too busy working out. Besides, you say "robots" and they say "You're over my head." ;)

No offense to anyone on a sports team!

Re: FIRST moving to Indy?
 

Maybe FIRST could build a joint headquarters with the national model airplane organization whose headquarters and national flying site are already in Muncie. There's no good place in Muncie for the FIRST championship, but that could be held in Indy, about 40 miles away.