California Districts in 2026

TL/DR:

California is moving to the District Model of play beginning in the 2026 season. There will be two District Championships in the state: one in Northern California and one in Southern California.

More Detail:

California is moving to the District Model of play for teams in the 2026 season. Due to the strong geographic concentration of teams in two main regions of the state, there will be two separate District Championships, but California will remain as one district.

Teams in California can compete and earn points in any District Qualifier event in California. Teams will be ranked based on the region they are located in (Northern or Southern California) and advance to one of two District Championships. The top 60 teams in each area (North and South) will advance to their District Championship.

Each District Championship will advance its winning alliance and Cultural Award winners (FIRST Impact Award, Engineering Inspiration, and Rookie All-Star) to the FIRST Championship. The remainder of California’s FIRST Championship slots will be allocated according to District Points across the state (i.e. with no North/South distinction), following the same allocation process in any other district (see section 11.5 of the Game Manual for details).

From a participant experience, the 2026 season will feel like all of the other Districts. Behind the scenes, California is going to operate a little differently than the other Districts. All other districts are operated by independent nonprofits (e.g. FIRST Indiana Robotics). These organizations are responsible for fundraising for and paying for the events, and handling event planning, logistics, and operations. The staff in these regions are employees of the local nonprofit.

In California, FIRST will retain most of this responsibility. The existing Regional Directors will remain as employees of FIRST. Funds raised to support the events will come to FIRST, and the expenses from the events will be paid by FIRST. FIRST will continue to provide support for event planning and execution, including moving the fields between events. FIRST is piloting this revised model solely in California for the 2026 season.

More volunteers will be needed to make this transition as smooth as possible. You can help by signing up to volunteer at an event this year to help build the volunteer capacity required to facilitate the District Model. Even if you cannot volunteer at an entire event, there are roles available for partial shifts (such as robot inspecting). If you are interested in taking on a new volunteer role at events, please fill out this form or contact local leadership to discuss opportunities.

There will also be more events in California in 2026 than ever before. If you believe you know of a location that may work, please reach out to your Regional Director to discuss. Venue requirements to host a District Event vary from a Regional Event and can be found in the District Venue Site Requirements document on the Event Planning Guides webpage.

There has been a small group working on this transition, and I extend my deepest gratitude to them for the time they put in to help develop this solution.

Check out the California District Details document for more details about how the system will work and a few questions we think people in the community may have. Information on virtual and in-person information sessions will be shared with California teams by the California Regional Directors.

Good luck to California in 2026!