How Much?

[purplehaze357]

who knows how much it actually costs to run one of these post-season competitions

[jnatt]

Cost vary based on items you plan to do.

If you need to get a field from First I am certain there are costs involved. Shipping and Handling of the field movement.

Other items include awards and insurance issues.

I have been looking to put together a budget and will share it once i have it.

Joel

[Brandon Martus]

Originally posted by jnatt
If you need to get a field from First I am certain there are costs involved. Shipping and Handling of the field movement.

you could build your own ...

[team222badbrad]

I dont know the exact amount of $$$$$$$ After reading the papers that came with our arena for the Pa Robot Challenge, I found out that the whole thing cost about 25,000 $$$$$ to build. Also Brandon, you kinda sorta need all the electronics, have fun building them............................. very complex system ( I know from setting up the PARC!)


Believe it or not, it took us about 45 minutes or less to take the whole arena down! It is very easy so build ********(no bolts or nuts just about 15 pins)******

[Kyle Fenton]

Depends on how much is donated to you.

The biggest expense is the carpet and the field, (you have to pay FIRST for use of it)

Next is the sound system, --Rented Speakers are kinda of expensive unless you have a DJ on your team

You would probably want an LCD projection for Rankings, Times, etc.

If you want a video set up, that is even extra money, for filming the event. Webcast also cost money too

The padding on the floor so it doesn't get scratched up. Unless you don't care about your floor

Need a complete IFI system, including computers, and some intricate set-up

A conssension stand for lunch time

Awards (Trophies, participation medals)

Pit Fees (Tables, signs, power, etc)

Misc. Fees
like a police officer; building fees, utilities, etc

All in all you are looking at a minimum of 5 grand if you want to host a competition. I know the best competitions like Battlecry, cost 10 grand, but they do a lot more than others.

[Andy A.]

Never doubt the power of donations...

Our expenses so far for Rally have come to around 500-1000 dollers.

If you have some very tenacious fundraisers, you can get people to donate anything. I think we're getting about 10 gallons of ice cream from the local B&J's. It's looking like after concensions we'll either brake even or make a profit .

-Andy

[Jnadke]

Originally posted by Kyle Fenton
Depends on how much is donated to you.

The biggest expense is the carpet and the field, (you have to pay FIRST for use of it)

.... blah blah blah

It's not about the trinkets and gizmos that make these off-season competitions great. It's about the teams getting together and having some fun. Sharing ideas. All of that junk is definately not needed. Teams tend to bring their own stuff anyways. If you can get a hold of a sound system, teams tend to bring the music...

"If you build it, they will come." You all know where that came from. Field of Dreams

The best stuff comes in donated form. You can save yourself a lot of money if you can find a school that is willing to let you use their facilities. The field you can build yourself, minus all of the electronics.

[Kyle Fenton]

Originally posted by Jnadke


It's not about the trinkets and gizmos that make these off-season competitions great. It's about the teams getting together and having some fun. Sharing ideas. All of that junk is definately not needed. Teams tend to bring their own stuff anyways. If you can get a hold of a sound system, teams tend to bring the music...

"If you build it, they will come." You all know where that came from. Field of Dreams

The best stuff comes in donated form. You can save yourself a lot of money if you can find a school that is willing to let you use their facilities. The field you can build yourself, minus all of the electronics.

Yes that is correct, the best thing of an off-season competition is to meat teams and have fun. But you also have to understand it is the little things that makes people expierences have a great time.
If you do a cruddy job on your competition, than you will have an audience that will be unimpressed and don't want to come next year. Fortunitly all the competitions I have been to in the past (Mayham, Battlecry, and Riverrage) have all been excellent.
This year, my team sponsor, did a lego league compeition, and it was an excellent one. It had a big screen with video of the field, antoher one for the scores, a webcast so anybody could watch it. It also had a decent sound system, etc. Now that is the competition is what I want, if our team host one. Iroically we have always been wanting to do an off-season for many years now, we have several places in Providence and Middletown we can host it, but no money to host it. But we are always looking for companies that are willing to sponser an event.
I don't know how it is your area, but in New England, there are so many competitions in the area, that it has become a competition almost. We have Rally in the Valley, Mayham @ the Merrymack, Battlecry, Bash @ the Beach, and River Rage. So if you want a large amount of teams to come, you have to make it so they will like it and come back the next time.

[Andy Baker]

(holy smokes... after posting this, I noticed that this post is ABOVE DJ's post, which I was referring to)

Naaa, it's not that much, DJ.

The big bucks come into play when a team needs the entire field and electronic hardware from FIRST.

In order to just get the field controller electronics from FIRST, it's not that expensive. They want the team to cover shipping costs and also insurance for any damage. I'm not sure what that totals, but it's not close to $5,000. I would guess that it's closer to $1,000. But, FIRST has not settled on a price for this.

For the upcoming IRI, FIRST is going to rent (loan) us these things:

2 LED's (timer only on both ends)
2 white arena towers
1 master control box (sits at scoring table)
E-stops for both sides
associated wiring harnesses
Red and Blue indicator lights

Notice that this only includes enough hardware to run 2 alliance stations on each end of the field... not 4.

Andy B.

[Brandon Martus]

Originally posted by Andy Baker
(holy smokes... after posting this, I noticed that this post is ABOVE DJ's post, which I was referring to)

most likely a server issue.... see the announcements forum for details .

One other thing, if you want the Innovation FIRST Competition Controllers with the basic power on/power off controlls for field power officials, I believe its about $5,000 dollars just to rent a set of 4.

I didn't deal with the ordering of that stuff in previous years, so thats all I know

[team222badbrad]

For the PA Robot Challenge we got the following Items: 3 controller towers, 6 lights, 6 E-stops, cables, 3 clocks, Master control panel, arena.

Some of the items were extra like the 3rd controller tower, lights, E-stops, 1 clock (and we needed the extra clock because during one match it decided to quit.)

If anyone wants to know approx. cost I might be able to ask my advisor.

Our shipping is covered by Parry Trucking, our video,computer, and sound is provided by the school. We also hire a DJ. The parents of the students usually run a concession stand.

Brad

[team222badbrad]

you have to have at least 10,000 $$$$ worth of insurance.