This is what the Federal Trade Commission is for. Quite literally the definition of a monopoly taking their cut.
We are aware of the situation as well as the results of similar lawsuits that have been ruled upon recently.
Our teamâs alumni network is fortunate enough to include members who have gone on to become lawyers and have very successful careers. Without promising anything, I will say that we are having these types of conversations currently.
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This is⌠so not a monopoly.
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A single robotics competition hosting an event is not âa marketâ.
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I donât know, it sounds an awful lot like an âarena where commercial dealings are conducted.â (Commercial dealings with hotels).
From https://www.justice.gov/atr/merger-guidelines/tools/market-definition:
A relevant antitrust market is an area of effective competition, comprising both product (or service) and geographic elements.
There is effective competition for the service (hotel rooms).
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obligatory not-a-lawyer-or-experienced but while this whole situation does suck, i feel like any suit may just end in
who requires conference direct?
FIRST.
and are there alternatives to FIRST (frc)
yes.
so no monopoly.
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I donât see how tying badging to an event to staying in a particular set of hotels is illegal. You have the option to not attend the event if you disagree with the policy. More broadly, there are other robotics competitions you can participate in; FIRST is not a monopoly in this space.
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Babe wake up, time for the semiannual âeveryone on CD is suddenly a legal expertâ thread!
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Anyone know what market share FIRST has over youth robotics, compared to other programs? Iâm not sure if first controls the market enough to actually be a monopoly.
I do not believe the issue in question here would be about FIRST as a monopoly. Iâd guess the question would be more around ConferenceDirect. (Let me disclaim that I have no legal experience and my only qualification for this thread is an interest in antitrust legislation.) It seems to me though that ConferenceDirect is not the one creating the anticompetitive situation (theyâre probably just bidding for the job?) even though theyâre the business in question. That makes me completely unsure how this plays with antitrust laws as someone not well versed in the subject.
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Really, the only difference between the situation described in This link posted in a reply above
Is that there are other robotics competitions, but not at this scale and not with this level of robot.
REC Foundation (VEX Robotics Competition) is of similar scale to FIRST:
The REC Foundationâs VEX family of robotics programs for elementary school through college students includes 1.1 million students in 70 countries.
The VEX World Championship is of similar scale to the FIRST World Championship. Iâll note that the VEX World Championship also requires attendees book through their hotel booking partner:
All attendees are required to book their hotel accommodations through Team Travel Source, the Official Housing Company for VEX.
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Not a lawyer, but I do know that this is so common in youth sports that it has a name âstay to playâ. Itâs so common, that I canât imagine that there hasnât already been a (failed, obviously) legal challenge to the idea. An Idea that Iâm wondering if it came from Mr Former Soccer Overlord. 
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Direct from the lawsuit posted above:
that it funneled cheer teams to pre-selected (and more expensive) hotels and accommodations during events, ⌠As a result of the alleged monopoly, the parents claim that they endured inflated prices of goods and services, ⌠These parents further claim violation of anti-trust law and consumer protection statutes in nearly 30 states.
It was shown from another post that the hotel rates arenât the âlowest contractional priceâ (see [FRC blog] Worlds Hotel Program Update - #48 by Huskie65).
From people on the outside, it seems like this is a cash grab from FIRST (like they need more teams registering for rooms for a quota or kickback). There is very little benefit to the teams, as then we might end up in hotel rooms we didnât expect, and now have to rent cars or busses to shuttle everyone to the venue. Teams through schools now have to explain to superintendents that weâre planning to take 50+ kids out of state to an unknown hotel and an unknown price that we wonât find out 10 days before the event (week 6 events to champs).
Lots of extra steps and work for teams (and potentially more costs) for very little benefits to them. (Especially when you can just walk into the event with a visitor badge)
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Way too many people here are conflating FIRST and Conference Direct accusations.
One is a multi-national STEM education competition with multiple comparable competitors.
The other is a single sanctioned broker gatekeeping an otherwise free market of lodging for a regional convention center. Maybe this isnât a âmonopolyâ in the break up the banks sense, but itâs at a minimum anti-competitive and profit driven.
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Key differences between that lawsuit and what FIRST (and VEXâŚ) are doing:
- Single event (just the championship), not multiple events
- Neither has a monopoly on robotics competitions (versus cheerleading events, where it sounds like thereâs just the one major organization thatâs trying to squeeze out all others?)
To me (causal who also has an interest in antitrust law), a lawsuit would hinge on the idea of tying.
The organization youâd sue would be FIRST (and non-profits arenât exempted from anti-trust, see Talone v. AOA), and youâd be suing them because theyâre conditioning purchase of one good (entrance to FIRST championship) on the purchase of another good (Hotels thru Conference Direct). The key two other conditions youâd have to prove is:
A/ Does the seller have significant market power to restrict competition in the second market (youâd basically have to make the case that FIRST has the power to actually follow through on its threat to not allow teams to compete if they donât book through conference direct if I understand it correctly)
B/ The total sum of commerce affected is not insignificant (probably true - FIRST champs is pretty big)
Again, clearly not a legal expert, but this is the gaps I see a lawsuit would have to prove. (The Varsity Cheer lawsuit about, among other things, steering students to more expensive hotels is good precedent)
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Correct, FIRST does not have a monopoly on robotics events.
They inserted a monopoly on hotels for their events though, something not related to the competition. Why does requiring hotel information needed for event participation?
There is no reason to require it now, as they have run events in Houston since 2017 without a need for it.