Sad day, FIRST now FIRLP

[TechieSam]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

Thank you. This is the sort of information I asked for originally. Now I am trying to figure out how FIRST is selling out its teams. Do you mean to say that because FTC has a higher registration fee than FLL, and that this was part of an agreement with LEGO, that this is a sell out? The FTC fee is $275 per team, and FLL is $200 per team. So, it is true that FTC costs $75 more to register than FLL. Is this the core of the claim that FIRST has sold us out?

Why would Lego have any say in the fees charged for Vex or FRC in the first place!?!? Isn't it FIRST's job to look out for the best interest of the teams, not the for-profit partners?

Here's what I would consider selling out - if Vex, the FTC partners and others requested that the team fees be $200 or lower for Vex to make it more affordable for more teams to join FTC and they were told the price for Vex must be higher at the request of Lego, then that is selling out. That is price fixing and that is what I consider selling out. If you think it's ok to raise the prices on FTC or FRC teams just to make Lego look more affordable to potential FTC schools, then I would disagree with you. That should be up to the schools to decide, not Lego or Vex.