NFL Owner Buys FIRST

FIRST General Forum
#51

to paraphrase Nietzsche:

FIRST is dead.

though it will still be the name of an organization, the spirit of the organization itself will die soon. Though we will retain it, it will no longer exist as we know it ever again.

Though it was destined to happen, I am still dismayed by this for the simple reason that because FIRST is now a part of a business enterprise, corruption WILL be a part of the game in years to come… maybe not next year, or the year after that… but it will happen. prices will go up, competition will fade or become controlled.

I’m quite put off by dean selling FIRST. Had he really thought this through a utilitarian standpoint, he would have come to the easy conclusion that FIRST had to stay the way it was.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one

the same applies for wants and dependencies as well…

I can only hope that FIRST is ignored by the business machine and left untampered with. unless that happens, you may start seeing prostitution of the FIRST ideals and name/logo in places you would never want to see it.

I hope Dean knew what he was doing…

#52

Hmmm…I think that someone only read the first page. But thanks for the optimism thought!!

#53

Good one, you almost got me there george, then my dad looked over my shoulder and saw what i was reading, and cracked up…

#54

/wonders how many people will reply to that last post with misdirected passion… :smiley:

#55

No need to move MIT. Purdue University is just up the road…

#56

:smiley: Good one almost had me on that one I was about to flip out then i remembered what day it was??? :smiley: :]

#57

Oh yeah, for those of you who thought I believed the story, sorry for the confusion ;-). Consider it my little effort to make it more believeable.

And please stop sending me PMs asking for those autographs, I am not really handing them out. :wink: :wink: :wink: Oh, just kidding with the whole thing.

And I DO know what April 1st is.

#58

I’m interested in creating something like that. I think that would be a great interactivitiy while you’re bored waiting for competition.

#59

Does this mean I can’t use my “hemi”?

Ken Loyd
Team 64

#60

Off topic but, what is a hemi? Dodge recently started lots of ad’s with them assuming everyone knows what they are.

Matt

#61

I too have no clue what a HEMI is… :confused:

Next time an April fool’s joke is played, it might help if you get all the facts straight… and make it more believable. For instance, there were many flaws with this idea of an ‘NFL Owner Buying FIRST off of Dean.’ FIRST is a non-profit organization founded by Dean, it’s its own organization… not a company. Therefore, FIRST is not owned by anybody… it is only managed. If a organization isn’t owned, how could it be bought?

But true, when I did first read the post yesterday morning… my jaw dropped and I was seriously confused. :smiley:

#62

But isn’t the absurdity of the situation all part of the fun? ;-]

#63

smirks thats part of what makes April Fools Day fun. Especially considering that you can always catch somebody. chuckles evilly

#64

For those of you asking… “What’s a Hemi?”

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hemi2.htm

#65

Warning: Business student mode!

What I would assume is that the “owner of FIRST” would be whomever owns all of the physical capital. Basically, this is the building, the FIRST trademark, the employee’s salaries, all of the physical aspects. So, “Buying FIRST” would entail buying all of that, at whatever price Dean felt to be accurate.

There is a difference between the owner of FIRST and the manager of FIRST, Erin is right. Dean may one day pass FIRST off to another manager, but still own the capital.

#66

Dean isn’t the manager either, he’s only an icon. A good way to put this… all the sponsors, mentors, & students own FIRST. We each have a share in the organization, FIRST works for us (not the other way around). Us 20,000 FIRSTaholics are the customers, provide the capital, and are the beneficiaries of the program’s objectives.

Ok, I’m finished killing the mood… me goes to sleep for the first time in 3 months :frowning:

#67

…not necessarily. But now I have a more informed answer instead of the business-babble I was doing earlier. :slight_smile:

FIRST is a registered non-profit with a NTEE code of A57 that recognizes them as a “Science & Technology Museum” (Note: NTEE = National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities, a Classification System developed by The National Center for Charitable Statistics). By the way, you can visit http://www.guidestar.org and search under “robotics” to pull up their records.

MelissaData (http://www.melissadata.com/Lookups/np.asp?ein=222990908), a listing of non-profits, lists FIRST as a corporation - which makes sense, because there is an extensive board of directors…one of them being Dean. To “buy FIRST”, the board would agree to place whomever bought it in one of the top seats of the Board.

It’s not a publicly held company. Revenues are from registration fees, private donations, and leasing revenue from the other companies & orgs within the FIRST Place building. You could say that indirectly…yes, we are funding the organization, but by giving money to FIRST you are at the Board of Director’s mercy. If you didn’t like the game, you cant “talk with your feet” and ask for your registration fee back…or “sell your FIRST stock”. You are right in saying that we are the customers, paying for the service that FIRST provides…if we were the beneficiary, then we wouldn’t be putting money in.

But hey, this could all be babble too :smiley:

#68

Well then, I stand corrected. I’m obviously not a business major :stuck_out_tongue:

#69

Sorry, I can be a pain in the butt…alot :wink:

#70

Finally, someone has explained what I had been babbling about last year.

We are customers to FIRST. In that comes expectations. I don’t want to hear another, “You should be grateful for everything FIRST does” nonsense when FIRST royally screws up.