Sustainability In FRC Teams

[Tom Line]

Sustainability is a real issue in FIRST. I think there are several contributors.

Most teams rely on a single "Angel" sponsor for the majority of their funding. When that Angel disappears, sustaining their team becomes very difficult.

For instance, a number of long-term teams in Michigan (6-7 years) are in major trouble because the sponsorship from some Michigan automakers is drying up.

At the same time, many companies are only interested in starting their own team - not sponsoring an existing team for any large financial amount. Bringing a new long-term big-money sponsor on board is very difficult.

Diversifying your sponsorship is key, but it's very difficult to keep a divese base of sponsors intact - the time requirements are large.

A FIRST robotics budget is simply above the amount of money that most people can fundraise every year. $15,000 (a reasonable budget that would allow you to be competitive) is incredibly difficult to fund-raise.

Probably my biggest gripe is something we've run into the last two years. When we started raising our entry fee I've heard a number of comments about how "pay to play" sports don't cost as much as robotics.

Schools think nothing of building a track, a soccer field, a baseball field, and a football field. Bleachers, lights, and then maintaining all that year round. In addition they eat a huge chunk of teams expenses (travel, equipment). Schools are the "Angel" investor in terms of sports. That's why so-called "pay to play" is still so inexpensive. Selling this sport to the schools and getting their decision-makers (the union leadership and the administration) to buy-in should be a huge focus.

I've presented a lot of problems and not many solutions: they are all problems our team has fought with over the last 4 years and continue to fight with.