Upcoming Important Dates!

Some major deadlines are quickly approaching, and I want to make sure teams have as much information as possible before they get here. Two things to note before we get into specifics:

1. All of these dates (and more!) are listed on the FIRST^® Robotics Competition calendar.  Teams can use the filters if desired and add events to their own calendar by clicking into an entry and then clicking the “Add to Calendar” at the bottom.
2. We’ve shifted to using two terms to describe important dates: Deadlines and Due Dates. Deadlines are set dates and times that cannot be missed. Deadlines are used for things like event preferencing closing and award submissions. Due dates are dates after which teams may miss out on some aspects of the program, but action can still be taken after the listed time. The biggest Due Date is Initial Payment Due Date (more below).

Here are some important dates:

November 13, 2025, 12:00 PM eastern

Pre-Kickoff Virtual Kit Release - Teams who have secured payment will have access to Pre-Kickoff vouchers via the Virtual Kit.

November 18, 2025, 12:00 PM eastern

Kit & Kickoff Registration Closes - Deadline for teams to select the Local Kickoff where they would like to receive their Kickoff Kit.

November 18, 2025, 5:00 PM eastern

Due date for initial payment - Please review this blog post from last year for important payment reminders and remember that your method of payment at check-out is final. If you are not able to secure payment by this date (for example because you’re waiting for a grant or check from your school), don’t panic! Your team will not be dropped from your event(s) or from the season. If your team will not be able to make payment prior to this time, please contact either  FIRST^® Customer Service  or your Program Delivery Partner so that we know you still plan to participate. If you need to add funds to your team’s account to cover the cost of registration, please plan ahead and allow 3-5 days for processing before funds are available in the FIRST Dashboard.

December 1, 2025, 12:00 PM eastern

MySite roll-over deadline - On this date, teams who have not yet secured their team registration payment are moved from receiving their Kickoff Kit at a Local Kickoff to receiving the Kit via MySite shipment. Remember to factor in transit and processing time for your method of payment. MySite shipments incur additional shipping fees detailed on the Kickoff section of the Game & Season page.

January 10, 2026, 12:00 PM eastern

Kickoff! Join us for the world premiere of REBUILT^TM presented by Haas! Shortly after the Kickoff broadcast ends, FIRST Choice opens for Priority Lists, and teams will get access to the full Virtual Kit. (As a reminder, there is only one round of FIRST Choice this season.) We’ll share more reminders on the important things to remember for Kickoff, closer to Kickoff.