Team Numbering System?

[Nuttyman54]

So I've been wondering for some time..how does FIRST assign team numbers. I noticed that it's not continuous. For example, there is a team 47 and a team 48, but no team 54. Is this because teams sign up and are unable to pay (and therefore their assigned number is dropped)? And what does FIRST do with older teams that are no longer competing? Do they put it "on hold' in case the team decides to return? Thanks in advance!


P.S. I know that team numbers were assigned permenantly a number of years back...how were the numbers assigned to the teams that joined prior to that?

[phrontist]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

So I've been wondering for some time..how does FIRST assign team numbers. I noticed that it's not continuous. For example, there is a team 47 and a team 48, but no team 54. Is this because teams sign up and are unable to pay (and therefore their assigned number is dropped)? And what does FIRST do with older teams that are no longer competing? Do they put it "on hold' in case the team decides to return? Thanks in advance!


P.S. I know that team numbers were assigned permenantly a number of years back...how were the numbers assigned to the teams that joined prior to that?

Every time a new team registers they get the next sequential number. It is their number forever. If they drop out, it is not re-used. So every number up to the highest (what is the highest now?) has been assigned, and those that you haven't seen are teams that have dropped out for some reason or another.

[Jay Trzaskos]

New team numbers were once assigned every year, but when FIRST decided to give teams a permanent number they went by sponsor for all teams. This is most noticable in the case of the X-cats. They are one of the original teams, but when FIRST handed out new team numbers they got 191 since they are sponsored by Xerox. Now team numbers are assigned by registration date. The reason there is no team 54 anymore is because they no longer participate in the program and FIRST most likely does not want to re-number again. So instead of assigning a rookie team 54, it is 'retired' and they are assigned a higher number. This is why 1547 has that number and not, say, 54.

JT
229

P.s. Can anyone please correct me on anything that is wrong with this post? thanks.

[Kyle Love]

You can find the whole list of teams here. The highest team number is 1976.

The way team got their numbers back in 1998 was they got them in the order they signed up, or thats how I understood it.

[Greg Needel]

Most of the stuff in this thread is true but there are few things...not all numbers are given to teams for example there is no team 666 and other numbers that have "meaning" aren't given. But once you have your number it is associated with the High School forever so if teams come and go there is consistency. For example team 73 competed in 94-99, 01, 03 - 05 but the number remained the same even though they didn't compete in 2000, 2002, and 2006, and when they return in 07 they will still be team 73..

Originally Posted by Kyle Love

The way team got their numbers back in 1998 was they got them in the order they signed up, or thats how I understood it.

nope when numbers were assigned they were done alphabetically by sponsor for existing teams and then ordered by the sign up date.

bonus trivia: who was the sponsor of the team that got #1 when numbers were founded?

[EricH]

And if a veteran team gets too big or for some other reason splits, one team keeps the number and the other is assigned one of the retired numbers (after checking that that number's team will not be back, of course).

[Astronouth7303]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

bonus trivia: who was the sponsor of the team that got #1 when numbers were founded?

3-Dimensional Services

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Kyle Love

The way team got their numbers back in 1998 was they got them in the order they signed up, or thats how I understood it.

That was the system prior to the permenant numbers, and teams got new numbers every year, right? From what I gather, in '98 (when they locked the numbers in permenantly) all the returning teams were assigned numbers alphabetically by sponsor?

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

Most of the stuff in this thread is true but there are few things...not all numbers are given to teams for example there is no team 666 and other numbers that have "meaning" aren't given. But once you have your number it is associated with the High School forever so if teams come and go there is consistency. For example team 73 competed in 94-99, 01, 03 - 05 but the number remained the same even though they didn't compete in 2000, 2002, and 2006, and when they return in 07 they will still be team 73..




nope when numbers were assigned they were done alphabetically by sponsor for existing teams and then ordered by the sign up date.

bonus trivia: who was the sponsor of the team that got #1 when numbers were founded?

So ET is comming back? Is RIT going to be affiliated with them again?

[KTorak]

I'm glad we have permanent numbers, it'd be annoying if you got reassigned a new number each year, like in FLL. It means you *can* put a number on a shirt, but it changes and is annoying to buy a new shirt or two each year.

[Joe J.]

We changed team numbers from 465 to 862 after our second year, from what I gather there was some kind of error with the registration and we couldn't use our old number for some reason. We also had a Major sponsor change between those two years as well.

[Conor Ryan]

A few questions admist all of this number switching:

1. If a team exists, and then dies (theres no easy way of saying it) then resurfaces again, does it still have rookie status/eligibility?
2. And if a team splits does one or both of the halfs have any rookie status?
3. Theres no way of getting a new number without not competing for a season, is there?(not that I want to go through all the paperwork)

I'm just speculating that questions 2 and 3 are Noes, but some clarification may help.

[Nuttyman54]

I don't think even not competing for a season rids you of your old number. It's my impression that as long as a team is affiliated with the same school, they keep the same number...

[phrontist]

Wait... 666 wasn't given out?! I can't believe FIRST would cave to some nonsensical relgious superstition like that.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by phrontist

Wait... 666 wasn't given out?! I can't believe FIRST would cave to some nonsensical relgious superstition like that.

Well there are a number of teams that are hosted by religious schools...I imagine they wouldn't be too happy if they got 666 assigned to them. Also, 1337 wasn't assigned, as far as I know