[Kevin Sevcik]

Putting logos on robots just makes good sense. To be frank, anyone donating to or sponsoring a team is expecting something. At the very least, they're expecting you to use the money for its stated purpose. Quite probably they're expecting their logo or name to show up somewhere and will make this fact known in some fashion.

If you take their money and don't use it for what you said you would, and they find out, you won't be getting any money from them or their friends anymore. If they're expecting you to put a logo on the robot and you don't, they're quite likely to find out and will approach you about it. Quite probably they won't sponsor you if you refuse to recognize them in some fashion. Yes, it's quite cynical, but this is how things work. As stated above, if the outcome is another FIRST team and more inspired kids, then as long as the money comes from legal means it's okay by me if they want me to do some small things to recognize them. If they want you to totally reorganize and rename your team, etc, then you need to weigh the costs and benefits. Yes, for those philosophy students out there (I know there's a few) this is a classical Utilitarian approach to the problem.