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
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).
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…
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 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
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.
i completely understand that FIRST is all about gracious professionalism and real world exposer but we are still a competion
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.
Ya, our team has to beg on Monday and Tuesday for money from our sponsors.
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.
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.
Im for that but i think maybe FIRST could at least pay for registration then sponsors could pay for travel room board etc
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.
I highly disagree. Not all communities have the resources to pour a minimum $6-12 thousand into an extracircular group, espacially when many consider it below athletics in nessessity. The community could be almost purely residental, or be very depressed/have high poverty.
There is an entry fee for every FIRST Event you attend.
Your first regional costs $6,000 and any other regional you attend costs $4,000. The Championship Event costs $5,000, if I recall correctly.
These fees are to help pay for the arena and anything else FIRST has to pay for running the event. I’m sure renting out the Georgia Dome for 3-4 days is expensive, so I doubt that it would be feasible for FIRST to pay for a team’s registration. The most I could see would be a discount or something, though that doesn’t seem very possible, either.
True, if a team wins and makes it to the championship, they should be able to go; money shouldn’t be a problem. But that is just another challenge that FIRST offers. Not only do you have to build a robot, but you also have to find companies to support you. This has a dual purpose–it allows your team to receive money from the community, as well as spreads the word of FIRST to many different areas of society.
There are hundreds of fundraisers your team could do to raise money for Championships if needed. You could have car washes, bake sales, set up something with a local restaurant, or organize something in your school (something like how clubs sell roses for Valentine’s Day).
FIRST isn’t just about the robot. Sure, you can go an build a good robot and win a few events, but there is so much more to it than that. Your team needs to be able to function as a cohesive whole. You have to gain support from your school and community. As someone stated above, let people know about your success. Do tons and tons of outreach–it’s a great way to meet local companies who may be potential sponsors. Ask around your team to see if there parents have connections anywhere; most of the money for our Brunswick Eruption shirts came from companies that team parents owned/worked for.
Basically, what I’m saying is, there are better ways to pay for your trip to Championships that getting FIRST to do it for you.
In response to Scott’s post above (which he posted while I was still typing this one…): If your community feels that athletics is above FIRST, then make them feel otherwise. Our team has participated in numerous community events–fairs, festivals, running a Lego camp, volunteering at senior citizen functions, etc. Get the word out there about your team. Fans and support will follow from local residents, who probably work for some company who would LOVE to get involved with your team.
You don’t understand the can of worms FIRST would open if they started paying the way for teams to go to the championship. Irregaurdless of whether they won a championship, EI, Chairman’s or any other award.
Teams would say “why do they get money and we don’t?” “Why would FIRST let Chairman’s teams die out?” (it has happened) “why does FIRST let original teams die out?”. “FIRST should fund more urban teams!” “FIRST should fund more rural teams!” “FIRST should fund more girl teams!”
The teams get a grant from NASA that pay for them to go to a NASA sponsered event but they need money from private enterprise to survive. It may not be fair but that’s how things are done. I think that’s why they created VEX for team that really cannot afford the FRC.
When FIRST starts picking favorites they sigh thier own death warrrant. Because teams will outright quit the program over stuff like that.
Carwashes, bake sales, and other easily available fund-raisers are not out of any teams reach, and can always be brought down (or up) to the level of the local economy. Our team brought in $500 in a one day car wash a couple years back. Being in America, there is always enough funding. I mean, if you’re seriously having budget issues, the minimum you need to go to Champs is $6000 plus the cost for 4 member’s hotel fees. $12k is a little high, as a robot can be built to a competition level based on random parts that would be otherwise thrown out from a hardware store and what comes in the kit.
I agree with most of the posts here that teams should pay for the championship if invited, because there really isn’t any other practical place for the event funding to come from.
What really needs to happen is in increase in robotics enthusiasm in every community, state, and country, as per Dean’s homework this year, so that robotics can grow and become more and more respectable as an extracurricular activity. I would love to see the day when FIRST is as popular, or moreso than football or other school sports. When this happens, the school will be much more likely to help out with funding for regionals and championship.