A Corrupt FIRST?

[Cory]

Originally Posted by keehun

I know that they have tried to help the teams out every year, by lowering the registration fees by a $1000 for example from the past. I don't really think FIRST is in any way corrupt. I also have no basis of reason to believe or even imagine so.

I don't agree with the OP at all, but the idea that FIRST is helping teams out by lowering the entry fee is ridiculous.

They have artificially inflated entry fees while simultaneously drastically cutting the value of the KOP and certain aspects of the event itself (absolutely pathetic trophies, for example).

We used to get a ton of useful stuff every year worth a lot of money that we no longer get, mostly including control system/electronics stuff.

So FIRST may be "helping" us in the sense we're paying $5k for the KOP and first entry instead of $6k, but the fact remains that we used to pay $4k and get a lot more for our money than we do now. I realize that the economy has been very weak lately and it is difficult to even continue to provide the same level of resources in the kit without increasing cost, but even prior to the recession we saw increased entry fees.

This becomes even more unpalatable when you look at FiM where one set of teams gets to pay essentially half as much as the rest of FRC for the same product. I understand that this is due to a subsidy not funded by FIRST, but that doesn't make everyone else not lucky enough to live in Michigan feel better about the fact that we're paying more for less.

Originally Posted by keehun

Your comment regarding how much FIRST spends on regionals was very off base. Though the locations are often on school campuses (or on a sponsor's property), FIRST does not get these locations for free. They may get a discount, but it is still pricey. Factor in the resources that go into shipping the field, shipping awards (you would be surprised!), live streaming, promotion, and even the cost of keeping everything powered for three days, and FIRST gets quite a hefty bill at every regional.

While you are right about how it is very expensive to run an event, regional events are responsible for covering the costs of their event independently of FIRST.