Greetings FTC teams!
Below, you will find a note from the /FIRST/ Tech Challenge Director, Ken Johnson. If you have any questions, please e-mail us at [email protected].
Team Numbers
The identities that develop among /FIRST/ teams are wonderful. They serve as the banner under which teams are celebrated for their success in competitions, fund raising, and helping others.
We encourage teams’ identification with /FIRST/ and within their /FIRST/ teams.
Going forward /FIRST/ Tech Challenge will adopt the /FIRST/ Robotics Competition model allowing teams to keep their team numbers year after year.
Ken Johnson
What timing. FIRST finally gets consistent team numbers, the day after Simbotics (FVC268 then FVC1114 then FTC339) officially decides not to continue with FTC.
Hmmm… but no word on whether you can get an FTC number that matches your FRC number… it certainly saves on T-shirt and promo material costs when you can do that.
Jason
I’m not sure that’s going to happen. I’m just glad that numbers will be the same from now on.
When does it start? Now? When you register for the next season, that is you’re new, permanent number? Or the number you have now is you’re permanent number?
I hope you can just pick a number for next year now. 
Dibs on #11 
I doubt they will let new teams pick numbers. Most likely because current teams may already have that number.
I’m glad at least they settled down on a permanent numbering system.
Even if FTC teams cannot get the same number as their FRC team, at least keeping the same number every year will be good. (And it’ll make keeping database records a lot easier for scouting and other similar things. :))
Ditto for the Poofs, except we decided to switch almost as soon as the announcement came out that FTC was scrapping vex. The demo kit at nationals and the information about next year’s FTC only convinced us that we had made the right decision.
If you think about it logically though that really wouldn’t make sense for FIRST unless there was a strict one-to-one relationship between FRC and FTC teams. If a school has one FRC team and multiple FTC teams how are numbers assigned? In addition, how do you handle rookies for either program so that numbers don’t overlap?
The question would have to go the other way as well. If you have a FTC team and decide to create an FRC team do you take your FTC number with you.
I think as long as you are keeping the numbers from here forward, you’re only really looking at a one time cost for redoing any existing promo materials.
My modest proposal was that FIRST “charter” a group to have FIRST teams. For example, the “chartering organization” might be a school, a company or a club of some sort (Boy Scouts, Explorers, 4H, parent’s group). The chartering organization would be given a single number, and each team would be a branch off that. For example, Exothermic Robotics, FIRST Organization 575, would have FRC 575, FLL 575-L1, 575-L2, and FTC 575-T1, 575-T2, etc.
If FIRST wants to use this, I won’t even charge royalties. (Especially since I stole the idea from Boy Scouts, where a chartering organization can have Pack 575, Troop 575, Crew 575, Ship 575, and Team 575. For example :] )
That might eventually work. I actually think that might be what FIRST would like to do, with their whole goal of having an FRC team in every high school. Then it would make sense. However the density of teams is not high enough yet.