2009 Regional Registration Progress

[GaryVoshol]

New non-rookie Grandville MI Second Team was reassigned to an unused number, 216.

[Mark McLeod]

Registration is at 1500 this morning, almost a month ahead of last year.
Every team from here on (less 1) is pure growth.

Still missing a little more than 17% of last year's veterans though.
So far, more new teams(250) than in 2006 (234), but not yet as many as in 2007 (264) or 2008 (320).
(For new teams I'm counting 248 FIRST defined rookies, including the reconstituted team 38, plus two new non-rookies--216 & 2828 )

Projecting the registration trend outward it seems we'll have ~170 more teams this year, so I conservatively predict 1670 total teams for the 2009 season.
An 11-12% growth over last year represents a small decline from the roughly 14-15+% growth experienced during the past three years. 2005 growth was only half this year's though. Some economic impact, but not as much as feared so far.

[Mark McLeod]

An update on registration progress.
1557 teams-to-date
269 new teams (including 2 new non-rookies & what used to be team 38) - better than '07, not yet as good as '08
3.7% growth so far
15% of 2008 veterans are still missing (225)

12 veteran teams on hiatus that have come back (about the same as last year's 13)from:
-- (6) one year off
-- (5) two year's off
-- (1) four year's off
(There could be other teams out more than two year's. I just haven't taken the time to go through the rookies exhaustively)

New non-rookie team 2828 has been renumbered team 1729,
so now team 2702 and higher are all considered 2009 rookies.

Sort on the net gain/(loss) of teams (# new 2009 teams -minus- missing teams from 2008):
Country Codes are back...
Indiana has every veteran registered now.

Location    # Missing  # new teams  Net gain/loss
TX             10          48             38 
WA           0              21             21 
MN           8           21             13 
IL              1           12             11 
OK            4           13             9 
DC            1           9               8 
MI             5           12             7 
OR            1           6               5 
KY            0              3               3 
IN             0           3               3 
TN            0              2               2 
PR            2           4               2 
OH            3           5               2 
MO           5           7               2 
ID             1           3               2 
AL            1           3               2 
WI            3           4               1 
UT            1           2               1 
TK             0              1               1 
NY            11          12             1 
GE            0              1               1 
GA            4           5               1 
CT            2           3               1 
WV           1           1               0 
SC            3           3               0 
NM           1           1               0 
CO            5           5               0 
UK            1           0                   (1)
SD            1           0                   (1)
QC            1           0               (1)
ON            7           6               (1)
NE            1           0                   (1)
MA           7           6               (1)
HI             5           4               (1)
FL             5           4                   (1)
BC            1           0               (1)
AB            1           0                   (1)
NH            3           1               (2)
MS           4           2                   (2)
KS            2           0               (2)
AZ            6           4               (2)
NC            4           1               (3)
MT            3           0                   (3)
LA            6           3               (3)
NV            5           1               (4)
MD           7           3               (4)
NJ             9           3               (6)
CA            22          16             (6)
VA            10          3               (7)
PA            8           0                   (8)
BR            10          1               (9)
IS             22          1               (21)

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by billy9083

team 38 is back and is 2836

why did you abandon the #38?

[Mark McLeod]

1600 teams right now and still growing...

Missing veteran teams are in the single digits in all areas except for:
California 19
and
Israel 16

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

New non-rookie team 2828 has been renumbered team 1729,
so now team 2702 and higher are all considered 2009 rookies.

** sniff, sniff ** I liked 2828

But now it's on to BAE as 1729 ... and that means no rookies at BAE at all
Looks like a fun event

[Chris Fultz]

Currently at 1619.

[D_Price]

Good luck to all of the new and upcoming and old teams at the Pittsburgh regional including my old team 1708. :0 good luck guys

[Mark McLeod]

We're past the 10% growth mark with 1652 teams as of this morning.
That's about a third off the average growth for the past three years.

The number of rookie teams (305) is off by 5% from last year, but still 15% better than in the 2007 season.

169 veteran teams from last year, however, are still missing and that's much higher than average, but maybe not as a percentage. Since registration isn't yet over and done with I expect more vets to register.
Right now we're missing a little over 11%. The average loss of veteran teams over the past three seasons has been 9.3%, but average loss over the past decade has been closer (10.4%).

We have at least 17 veterans return after not playing for a year or more.

Only a few days of registration remaining.

[synth3tk]

You sound like you could do some ESPN-like segments for FIRST.

[Mark McLeod]

General Registration is closed but there are always teams appearing and disappearing from the rolls as the dust settings and payments come due. Last year we ended up with a dozen more teams after registration closed.
Michigan also has an extra day (12/2) of registration so rookies are still showing up there.

1681 teams are registered (vs. 1501 in 2008)
314 new teams (vs. 320 in 2008) - includes a couple of non-rookies and a couple of resurrected vet teams.

180 team net gain (vs. 200 in 2008)
12% growth (vs. 15.4% in 2008)

Teams from 10 countries


23 prior vets returned who sat out a year or more (vs. 13 returnees in 2008)
A big Welcome Back to these teams:

Yrs out
1           618     Philadelphia, PA, USA
1           886     North York, ON, Canada 
1           1188   Royal Oak, MI, USA
1           1446   Washington, DC, USA
1           1452   Los Angeles, CA, USA
1           1567   Rochester, NY, USA
1           1770   Chicago, IL, USA
1           1849   Washington, DC, USA
1           1856   Redford, MI, USA
1           1863   Tulsa, OK, USA
1           1889   Wellington, FL, USA
1           2249   Billings, MT, USA
2           225     York, PA, USA
2           977     South Boston, VA, USA
2           1120   Milpitas, CA, USA
2           1148   Studio City, CA, USA
2           1257   Scotch Plains, NJ, USA
2           1578   Tel Aviv, TEL AVIV, Israel
2           1609   Ballwin, MO, USA
2           1954   Beer Sheva, Southern, Israel
2           1974   Stockton, CA, USA
3              3060   Birmingham, MI, USA (was team 1489)
4           2836   Woodbury, CT, USA (was team 38)

Lost 10.26% (154 teams) of vets from 2009 (vs. 10.22% loss in 2008, 8.4% loss in 2007, 9.3% loss in 2006)
The good news is about 1% (like those teams above) return after a year or two off.

These are the areas where we may need to work on retaining and supporting faltering veteran teams, although some attrition should be expected:

             Missing vets
CA             16
BR             9
ON             7
TX              6
NY             6
NJ              6
MA             6
IS               6
FL              6
VA             5
PA             5
MO             5
MI              5
MD             5
OK             4
NV             4
MN             4
LA              4
HI               4
AZ              4
GA             3
WI              2
SC             2
PR             2
NH             2
MT             2
MS             2
KS             2
CT              2
CO             2
WV            1
UK             1
SD             1
OR             1
OH             1
NM             1
NE             1
NC             1
IL               1
ID               1
DC             1
BC             1
AL              1
AB             1
 

Here is the net gain and loss for each area with the loss of veterans offset by the gain of new teams (or recovery of previously lost vets):

Location    # Missing  # new teams  Net gain/(loss)
TX            6           49             43 
MN           4           28             24 
WA          0              24             24 
IL             1           15             14 
IS             6           17             11 
OK           4           13             9 
NY           6           15             9 
MI            5           13             8 
DC           1           9               8 
OH           1           6               5 
OR           1           6               5 
CO           2           5               3 
GA           3           6               3 
IN             0           3               3 
KY           0              3               3 
AL           1           3               2 
ID             1           3               2 
MO           5           7               2 
PR           2           4               2 
TN            0              2               2 
UT            0           2               2 
WI            2           4               2 
AZ            4           5               1 
CT            2           3               1 
GE           0           1               1 
ME           0           1               1 
NC           1           2               1 
SC           2           3               1 
Turkey      0              1               1 
VT            0           1               1 
CA           16          16             0 
HI             4           4               0 
MS           2           2                   0 
NM           1           1               0 
QC           0           0               0 
VA           5           5               0 
WV          1           1               0 
AB           1           0               (1)
BC           1           0               (1)
LA            4           3               (1)
MA           6           5               (1)
NE           1           0               (1)
NH           2           1               (1)
ON           7           6               (1)
SD           1           0               (1)
UK           1           0               (1)
FL            6           4                   (2)
KS           2           0               (2)
MD           5           3               (2)
MT           2           0                   (2)
NJ            6           3               (3)
NV           4           1               (3)
PA           5           2               (3)
BR           9           1               (8)

Here is where everyone is from this year. (These add up to 1688, the number now, @1:53pm, registered):

CA                 146
MI                  133
NY                 122
TX                  88
MN                 78
NJ                  61
VA                 59
ON                 58
MA                 52
MO                 51
IL                   49
IS                   49
OK                 49
PA                 49
WA                49
FL                  42
AZ                  40
OH                 40
CO                 32
CT                  32
IN                   30
WI                  29
GA                 28
OR                 28
NH                 27
MD                 26
HI                   25
SC                 23
KS                 20
LA                  16
DC                 15
NC                 13
NV                 13
MS                 12
PR                 12
ID                   10
AL                  7
ME                 7
BR                 6
ND                 5
TN                  5
UT                  5
KY                 4
NM                 4
UK                 4
VT                  4
WV                4
AK                 3
IA                   3
QC                 3
BC                 2
DE                 2
MT                 2
MX                 2
RI                   2
WY                2
AB                 1
AR                 1
Chile              1
GE                 1
Netherlands     1
TK                  1

Events are full except for:
(1) Oklahoma City
(1) Florida
(7) Arizona
(10) Bayou
(18) St. Louis
(1) Waterloo
(7) Hawaii
(1) Minnesota

Don't know about Michigan District events though.

[Richard Wallace]

I have nothing to add.

Thanks, Mark, for making the 2009 version of this thread informative and entertaining.

[Mark McLeod]

At least I've entertained a few people.
It was hard to tell sometimes if I was just talking to myself or not, but I had fun sifting the data.
It'll be nice to have this stuff to look back on next year.

[IndySam]

Good stuff Mark. Great to see Kentucky finally see some growth.

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

At least I've entertained a few people.
It was hard to tell sometimes if I was just talking to myself or not, but I had fun sifting the data.
It'll be nice to have this stuff to look back on next year.

Even if we don't post, I'm sure there are a boatload of people like me who just lurk the thread every time you post.

In the future, this could sort of be used for statistics in podcasts and whatnot, make it sound official, like ESPN does with sports.
Thanks for the hard work, Mark!