Just a thought - what happens to the field after the season is over?
what do you mean by what happens?
FIRST rents the field out to post season events. and im not sure if it is the same every year but after the Ruckus last year they told us not to send back the tetras, used lexan from the driver stations and i dont think they wanted the carpet either (not too sure on the last one)
so basically they reuse the main field year after year and who ever has the field left gets the game opponents
I just came up with a silly idea for FIRST to do with the Field so here it is "GIVE THEM TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS!!! 
" crazy right???
Oh, ok. Do you know by any chance how much the cost of renting a field was. I was planning on suggesting an off season event for my team and am trying to find the associated costs.
ill have to find out…
id say bring the idea for an off season event up at a meeting because there may be mentors or other students that may know some info on off season events. and also be sure to check and see if there is already off season events in your area
I’ll make sure to bring up the idea tomorrow. Thanks for your help.
**What happens to all the fields?
**They go back to FIRST place in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Can I Rent a Field?
To my understanding, the fields are free to rent, however you pay for the transportation costs and other costs associated of taking possession of the field.Search around the FIRST site, or contact your local Senior Mentor and they’ll probably have the right contacts to set you up with a field.
they have a website for renting the fields but im not sure what the site is and it may only be up after the chapionship, which is when you can get one
I think they are sent to a farm in upstate new york. where they have plenty of room to run and play.
It would almost seem more logical to give them to the Championship losers.
A little bird told me that it costs some 2 grand to ship it.
The field perimeters are used year after year; when they are done with the Championship the fields are either sent back to FIRST or sent directly to post-season events at an expense paid by the planning committees of those events. The farther away the event from Manchester, NH the higher the cost of transportation. Some off seasons work together to share one field so the field ships direct and not to-from NH every time (like the Northeast May-June off-season competition circuit).
The field costs are usually for insurance, shipping, and spare game implements. FIRST requires that you insure the field just in case damage occures. The carpet is NOT included with the field so its acquired by the team or off-season competition (usually taken at the conclusion of a nearby regional).
the problem with giving it to a championship winning team is that the teams that win are most likely already have a practice field. You name all the big teams out there like 71,111, and many others which have won nats, you also will find out that they have a nice practice field.
Well as the person who got the field for the ruckus last year i can fill you in with the specifics.
As other people have said in this thread there are a few places fields go after the championship (CA, MI, etc) last year our field was “rented” by team ford FIRST who also supplies the field for the Sweet Repeat and IRI. After the championship that field is sent to MI, where team ford FIRST covers the cost of shipping and insurance. Then for each event afterwords the event pays for shipping to the event from the last event (the field is used very often) and the equal split of the cost of shipping.
The other options for off season events are get a field directly from FIRST, the costs involved being the shipping, and i believe a 10,000 insurance bond against damage. I would contact FIRST for the exact costs.
And finally NASA has a field that they let people use for off season events. All you have to cover is the cost of gas, tolls, and hotel for mike wade to drive the field from NASA Goddard in Maryland (this is an east coast only option), but i believe that NASA Ames has a similar deal.
Team 22 got its own field after winning the Chairmans in 2001.( we were sponsoring so many events they said just keep it!!) FIRST does let people borrow the fields but usually teams have to pay for them to get it out to them - about 2 grand! but its FIRST im sure if you have a good cause and you talk to the right people they will say where do you need it and by when??? 
Thank you to everyone for the information. Team 540 will try to host an offseason event in Central Virginia. I will post more details soon.
Thanks,
Rob
If you are looking to host an off-season event in VA, I would advise you to talk to Pattie Cook or Dee Tomczak. I know from experience, that there have been several attempts to get an off-season event started in Central Virginia. As part of the most recent group of people trying to get an off-season started, there is alot to it that you would never think about. So if you need any help, feel free to contact me, i still have all the planning information that we came up with, and I am very much still wanting to help plan, and get an off-season started in Virginia. Best of luck.
~Mike O’Brien
If I was really rich, I’d do the following simply because FIRST is such a huge great program.
I’d establish regional FIRST centers. Each facility would be a year-round permanent place with one common warehouse space for a playing field and 10-20 mini-shops off to the side for each team!
Each team would register annually (maybe a lottery) for their workspace which would be accessible from outside the building (separately keyed for team secrecy).
Each team would have to provide their own insurance, but the physical space, utilities, etc would be provided free of charge or some nominal fee.
Then, each team could reserve the central arena for practice either on a “private” hourly basis or on a shared scrimmage basis.
Ohhhh…if I was really rich! In the mean time, I guess that teams in a given region could pool their resources to buy some scrap carpeting, build a sharable practice field, maybe even design their own 6-team controllers…ah, the beauty of being graciously professional.
I’ll make sure to contact them on Monday. Also the planning info would be very helpful. If anyone else is interested in helping please PM or e-mail me (I already e-mailed you Mike).