How big will FIRST ever get?

[generalbrando]

FIRST has been working on making the game more and more TV/spectator friendly. Does anyone remember Dean talking about that at the kick off? Does anyone also remember how he shed a tear saying the game wasn't fair. (And yet people still whined when it wasn't fair!)

I think the growth is going to continue at a steady pace until it becomes a real media spectacal. It's getting there. My team just had a story done on a local TV network even though we aren't building a bot right now and we didn't win big last year.

More teams!=cheaper (more teams does not equal cheaper). FIRST said long ago that as more and more teams were created, the price of registration would drop, however it hasn't changed that much, despite the growth. I think that they are intent on giving us the best kit they possibly can and that means it's expensive, so I have no complaints - however I don't see it getting much cheaper any time soon.

NASA, IMHO, is helping a lot. Maybe there are other programs that get more, but we're getting something, not nothing. And if I'm not mistaken, they didn't hand out all of their grants last year. Not because they are greedy or needed to cut back - but because not enough teams asked and qualified for them. Correct me if I'm wrong on that - it's what I was told. Anyway, NASA gives registration plus a chunk of change to get some parts and supplies. More money would be nice, but for rookie teams - I would curse NASA for giving them more because it would be a horrible crutch that they would become dependent on. So, Mike, unless you meant the government is the one tossing out just a few peanuts, I'll have to disagree.