Free Ride

[mormannoob]

i was curious if the regional winners should get a free ride to ATL (plane, hotel, the whole shabang) say why or why not i think it would be nice and would be a cool little extra reward

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by mormannoob

i was curious if the regional winners should get a free ride to ATL (plane, hotel, the whole shabang) say why or why not i think it would be nice give and be a cool little extra reward

Nope.
They have to pay their own way.
There hav been cases of teams qualifying for the championship and not going because they lacked funds (happens quite often, sadly).

[TheNotoriousKid]

we went over this.........i started a "First PRize" thread and i was bashed for it soo.........i would quit right now.......lol........im serious.....

[Pavan Dave]

Nope. It has never been that way and it never will. It would cost TOO much for FIRST to handle and plus, that isn't the point. I think FIRST would like to see more shipley's stickers on your bot showing that you worked hard to get to where you are rather than to hand you a free ride, because to me, that is what FIRST is about. Learning about the real world and making do with what you got.

Pavan.

[mormannoob]

i just think it isn't fair for a team to win regionals and just because they cant afford to go to nats their season ends if we want to consider our selfs a sport i would assume it should work that way
i mean the best teams in each region should all have a chance to prove they're the best teams in he world

[Pavan Dave]

But keep in mind that competition is not the number 1 goal of FIRST. Think of why the Chairmans award at regionals is more prestigious than a championship win? Competition is only the path that FIRST takes to bring science, engineering, and technology to the masses.

[mormannoob]

Originally Posted by Pavan

Nope. It has never been that way and it never will. It would cost TOO much for FIRST to handle and plus, that isn't the point. I think FIRST would like to see more shipley's stickers on your bot showing that you worked hard to get to where you are rather than to hand you a free ride, because to me, that is what FIRST is about. Learning about the real world and making do with what you got.

Pavan.

i completely understand that FIRST is all about gracious professionalism and real world exposer but we are still a competion

[joshsmithers]

It is my opinion that a team that wins regional or chairmans should not have to pay to attend, but must still pay for food, hotel, and traveling.

My opinion is slightly harsh... but here it is: If you cannot fund the absolute minimum to get yourself to Champs, then you haven't gone to your community enough, and aren't doing the main mission of FIRST, and so you do not deserve to go there anyway.

If a team seriously wants to go, there is nothing stopping them from getting the funding and sponsorship to go. The only limiter is how much they care, and how much they want it.

[VanMan]

Ya, our team has to beg on Monday and Tuesday for money from our sponsors.

[rees2001]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Nope.
They have to pay their own way.
There hav been cases of teams qualifying for the championship and not going because they lacked funds (happens quite often, sadly).

Been there. It stinks but, it makes you work that much harder the next year... 2003 ended bitter sweet, 2004 was a fun year for us.

[Bongle]

Originally Posted by mormannoob

i just think it isn't fair for a team to win regionals and just because they cant afford to go to nats their season ends if we want to consider our selfs a sport i would assume it should work that way
i mean the best teams in each region should all have a chance to prove they're the best teams in he world

And they do. You have to raise the money first though. Part of FIRST is supposed to be your community involvement. If you've already raised enough money to attend one regional ($6000 + transportation + hotel + food), then you just have to do that again to attend championships. You've got a month, you've got a regional win to advertise yourself with, it is possible. 1281 did it last year after we came from nowhere to win the Waterloo regional. We went into it expecting NOTHING, and ended up winning. We parlayed that into more donations, and went.

I'm fairly sure that the championship portion of most sports are not paid for. I'm a swimmer, and if i qualify for national championships, I still have to pay the entry fee, pay for the flight, pay for my hotel. Only in the very upper echelons of sports can you expect to get paid to be somewhere. And even then, you're not getting paid by the organization that is holding the event, you're getting paid by your team. The NHL doesn't pay the players to attend the stanley cup, their teams do. Where do the teams get their money? From their community.

It is my opinion that a team that wins regional or chairmans should not have to pay to attend, but must still pay for food, hotel, and traveling.

With 30 regionals each sending 3 regional winners and 1 chairman's winner each, that is nearly half of the teams attending not paying their entry fee, which comes to about 3/4 of a million dollars in revenue less for FIRST to hold the event.
Edit: assuming my memory is correct that the entry fee is $6,000.

[mormannoob]

Originally Posted by 114ManualLabor

My opinion is slightly harsh... but here it is: If you cannot fund the absolute minimum to get yourself to Champs, then you haven't gone to your community enough, and aren't doing the main mission of FIRST, and so you do not deserve to go there anyway.

If a team seriously wants to go, there is nothing stopping them from getting the funding and sponsorship to go. The only limiter is how much they care, and how much they want it.

Im for that but i think maybe FIRST could at least pay for registration then sponsors could pay for travel room board etc

[vivek16]

yeah the 6000 dollar entry fee seems a little too much. was there an entry fee for regionals?

i agree that there should not be an entry fee if they are good enough to make it to nationals.

[Bongle]

Originally Posted by vivek16

yeah the 6000 dollar entry fee seems a little too much. was there an entry fee for regionals?

i agree that there should not be an entry fee if they are good enough to make it to nationals.

How would you feel if all the other teams had to pay ~$1200 ($1.5mil championship budget divided by 1300 teams) more in regional fees so that the 'good' teams could attend nationals? From my experience on a non-qualifying team, there'd be a lot of resentment that you're paying more so that those that have already won a regional can continue their season for free.

Yes, there is an entry fee for regionals. From FIRST's site:

The registration fee for a team's initial event of the season is $6,000. Subsequent Regional Events are $4,000 each, and the Championship is $5,000. Besides allowing you entry to one event, the fee covers the Kit of Parts, which includes all materials necessary to build a basic robot, and related software. It also includes team and technical support and program-related items, e.g. awards, trophies, Team Manual, and the Program Book.