Local government ordinance hampers Beatty finances.

[LeelandS]

Forget for a moment the world championships. Forget the amazing robots. Imagine that it boils down to just another FRC team shutting down. That... is unacceptable in any circle.

Bring back in the years and years of legacy, the awards, the robots, the championships. And FRC could be losing one of the greatest teams of all time. A team that, over 15 years, has inspired at least hundreds of students on the team with the message of FIRST, and, with their legacy of domination and outstanding performances, have inspired students, mentors and teams as a whole through out the FIRST world. Not just the City of Hammond. Now just the State of Indiana. Not just the United States of America. Not just North America. 71 has inspired teams worldwide with their standard of excellence. And to lose that. To cut that legacy off. It would be tragedy.

If there is any way the FIRST community can help, I hope it is made known sooner rather than later. I'd put in the effort if it meant one of the most inspiring teams in FIRST could keep on inspiring.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by LeelandS

Forget for a moment the world championships. Forget the amazing robots. Imagine that it boils down to just another FRC team shutting down. That... is unacceptable in any circle.

Bring back in the years and years of legacy, the awards, the robots, the championships. And FRC could be losing one of the greatest teams of all time. A team that, over 15 years, has inspired at least hundreds of students on the team with the message of FIRST, and, with their legacy of domination and outstanding performances, have inspired students, mentors and teams as a whole through out the FIRST world. Not just the City of Hammond. Now just the State of Indiana. Not just the United States of America. Not just North America. 71 has inspired teams worldwide with their standard of excellence. And to lose that. To cut that legacy off. It would be tragedy.

If there is any way the FIRST community can help, I hope it is made known sooner rather than later. I'd put in the effort if it meant one of the most inspiring teams in FIRST could keep on inspiring.

Not making a slight to any other team, but if there ever was a team that FIRST and their leading bodies would ever need to jump in for and try to keep alive, I think most would say 71 has earned that right.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by dodar

Not making a slight to any other team, but if there ever was a team that FIRST and their leading bodies would ever need to jump in for and try to keep alive, I think most would say 71 has earned that right.

FIRST has sat by and watched Hall of Fame teams go dark for on reason or another and done nothing. There will be no bailout coming. Sadly 71 is on their own.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

FIRST has sat by and watched Hall of Fame teams go dark for on reason or another and done nothing. There will be no bailout coming. Sadly 71 is on their own.

What other HoF teams have faced a similiar situation to this and not come out the other side?

[BigJ]

Originally Posted by dodar

What other HoF teams have faced a similiar situation to this and not come out the other side?

Preliminary comparison of HoF vs TBA shows Team 22 (HoF 2001) not having played since 2006. I did not check to see if there were playing lapses in the other teams who did play this year.

[Jon Stratis]

Lets also keep in mind that teams quit FRC for more reasons than just sponsorship. Some teams may decide to leave FRC for something they view as more challenging. Schools could pull their support, closing the team. The students in the school might not have enough interest in joining the team to keep the team alive.

IMO, sponsorship is the easiest one for FIRST to help a team solve, if the team really needs it and lets FIRST know they need help. As it stands, there are people around the country who spend enormous amounts of time helping find new sponsorship for teams. I know that's how my company (and then me) got involved with my team. That's also how a lot of teams in Minnesota get to Champs - through the work of those volunteers making phone calls starting the minute the team earns themselves a berth. When we made it to Champs in 2011, We knew where most of the funding for the trip was going to come from before we had even packed up the robot.

I'm confident that a great team like this will be able to find alternate sources of funding for their team, and that they won't be afraid to ask their regional FIRST volunteers and staff for assistance if they really need it.

[trilogy2826]

Originally Posted by dodar

What other HoF teams have faced a similiar situation to this and not come out the other side?

Keep in mind that for some "Blow your mind" reason, 71 is not a HoF team. Thus their sorely missed absence from St Louis this year.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by trilogy2826

Keep in mind that for some "Blow your mind" reason, 71 is not a HoF team. Thus their sorely missed absence from St Louis this year.

I know, but I have always just called them a HoF team becuase they represent every quality of one. That and the fact that I think once you win atleast 3, in 71's case they have 4, world championships you deserve a HoF spot. People may disagree with my belief in that but we must remember that even though the main purpose for FIRST isnt the competition, but it is key in the minds of students who join and particiapte and the fact it is the one thing that can unite students by.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by dodar

What other HoF teams have faced a similiar situation to this and not come out the other side?

The 1993 winner is long gone.

---

My guess to why there wasn't a reason to keep them alive at all costs is that they probably figure that if a team made the HoF, then they are probably able to find thier way out of the problem by whatever means. What often times gets teams into the HoF IS getting out of such jams.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

The 1993 winner is long gone.

---

My guess to why there wasn't a reason to keep them alive at all costs is that they probably figure that if a team made the HoF, then they are probably able to find thier way out of the problem by whatever means. What often times gets teams into the HoF IS getting out of such jams.

Team 144 was disbanded and the mentor leadership started 1038. 144 has come back this year.
23 took 10 years off.
22 left and became team 4.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

22 left and became team 4.

It would be more accurate to say that 22 split into 4 and 22 (both of which competed in 2006); after 2006, 22 did not return.

[JamesCH95]

It seems to me that the company would have to pull their financial support of the team, that's how I read it anyway. 50-100k is a lot of capital for most companies, losing that income is pretty serious.

It's a tough lesson in diversifying team income sources. It is great to have one main sponsor that covers every expense, but it is not a risk-averse business model.

As someone who works at a small company I am very glad that we have 2-3 major clients because it is very rare that all of them will be out of work for us. I have seen bigger companies disband, seemingly over night, if they lose work from their sole client.

[JohnSchneider]

I find it interesting that the money would be going into the towns "general fund". If I was 71 - I'd be approaching my city about a plausible sponsorship. For a program that brings so much publicity to the town, I would think the City could throw some of that 71's way.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

This is why I have been preaching sponsor diversification to my team for the past year. Because if you only have a few sponsors that each hash out a large sum/yr, and one or more take a hit, you're screwed. Teams that have more sponsors than people are the teams with eternal staying power.

Maybe this will serve as a lesson to other successful teams to prepare. I know my own team was this dependent with Ford and had moderate success, and when Ford pulled sponsorship on us for a year, we went into a debt that we still haven't climbed out of.

[waialua359]

I truly hope that Team 71 can find a way to continue and that the Beatty family is somehow able to still provide support.

Sustainability is such a tough issue that cant be avoided when doing such an expensive and time consuming program. Teams almost have to reinvent themselves constantly, much the same way in robot prototyping/construction if they want to experience continued success.

However, nothing lasts forever.
As a HOF team, I know that at some point before I leave the school, we have to find someone to take over, much the same way as our current mentors who are almost all retired.
Transitioning to new mentors and/or new sponsors that you are accustomed to, is much much harder than trying to build robots year after year. We have been transitioning year after year on the sponsorship part, getting as much as we can and diversifying where and what we support in our program.