FIRST Competition Entry Fee Increases for 2005

[Ken Leung]

Originally Posted by T. Hoffman

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=28820


FIRST's most recent Email Blast reveals they have decided to increase the base team entrance fee to $6000 and the Championship fee to $5000. Additional regional fees remain the same at $4000. They have also taken several steps to help cushion the financial blow these increases will have on everyone (see the link above for details). They haven't raised rates since 2000, so I think it's justified for them to ask for more money, especially if it leads to an improvement in the quality of the overall FIRST experience. Hopefully, they will use the money to address many of the issues and problems expressed by FIRST'ers on these forums.

I am afraid this is one of those cases where there is no perfect solution.

FIRST cost a lot of money to run, we all understand that. Robots takes a lot of money to build, we all surely must feel that pain by now. In order to host a 3 day competition for 36-70 teams each weekend, you need a lot of money. In order to bring 20-50 kids to a robotics competition for 3 days, you need a lot of money.

Many people have commented their concern of how expensive FIRST is for many years now. Some of them might not have done FIRST at all, some of them has done FIRST but moved on and form their own organization or teams, some decide to remain in FIRST and support its cause. It is not a new problem. There is no right or wrong in this. It is a phenomenon we have to deal with if we want something in return: the education and inspiration of our future.

Is it worth all the trouble? The sleepless nights? The endless headache? Is it worth the energy to find enough resources to keep this going? That's probably the same questions many before our time have asked when they found a noble cause they are willing to chase after. In the modern time when its harder and harder to feel a sense of purpose, we are lucky to have a community to care about, and ideas to uphold. Is this worth it, you might ask to yourself... For me, I can't tell for sure, but I feel it's a right direction for me. Certainly it feel more right than any other directions I've seen.

What we shouldn't do is ask why this is happening to me. What we should do is ask how we can fix this problem, because giving up is not acceptable for those of us who care enough. In my experience, when everyone contribute a little more than they are expected, you can get amazing results from a group of individuals. Maybe that's something we should do.

If we can think out of the box and get just a little more money for the teams, it will help. If we can come up with a way to build a cheaper goal for the field, it will help. If we can volunteer just a little more time to help FIRST run competitions, it will help.

After all, all we can do is a little more than 100%, and hope for the best, right? ;-)