FIRST Championship Updates: 2025 & Beyond

As we look toward the 2024-2025 FIRST^® season, we’re sharing some important updates pertaining to FIRST Championship, including dates, host cities, team lodging policies, advancement, and qualification.

FIRST Championship to Remain in Houston in 2025, 2026, and 2027

The George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston will remain the venue for FIRST Championship in 2025, 2026, and 2027. Houston has been an extremely supportive host city for us since 2017, and we look forward to continuing to foster the strong relationships we have built throughout the city in the coming years.

Save the dates:

• 2025 FIRST Championship: April 16 - 19, 2025, Houston
• 2026 FIRST Championship: April 29 - May 2, 2026, Houston
• 2027 FIRST Championship: April 28 - May 1, 2027, Houston

While from a logistical standpoint, there are (perhaps surprisingly) very few cities that can host an event of our size, complexity, and schedule, we understand the desire to vary our location in the long run. As such, we are actively evaluating potential locations, and more details for FIRST Championship in 2028 and beyond will be announced as information becomes available.

FIRST Championship Lodging

As part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring the FIRST Championship remains as safe, accessible, and affordable as possible for all teams, FIRST is working with hotels to secure the best possible block-rates and reserve sufficient inventory for FIRST Championship participants. Beginning with the April 16-19, 2025, FIRST Championship, FIRST is updating its policies and procedures surrounding hotels and lodging: As part of updated participation requirements, all teams traveling to FIRST Championship will be required to book their lodging accommodations within those designated hotel blocks. 

This policy improvement enables FIRST to ensure that all hotels are pre-approved for safety and accessibility and that enough hotel rooms are available for participating teams.  In addition, FIRST can negotiate the best possible rates and terms for all participants, ensuring that hotel rates remain as low as possible. Teams that are registered to an address within 100 miles of the FIRST Championship event may elect to commute each day, if desired.

FIRST understands there are teams who experience financial hardship on the road to FIRST Championship. We are, therefore, exploring hardship grants for teams.

Advancement and Championship Qualification

As FIRST continues to grow, it becomes more difficult for teams to advance beyond their local and regional events. Today, only 0.5% of FIRST^® LEGO^® League Challenge and 2.5% of FIRST^® Tech Challenge qualify for FIRST Championship, and as we add additional FIRST^® Robotics Competition teams and events, the use of tools such as the priority wait list is becoming more necessary.

To help mitigate this issue and to help ensure that as many teams as possible can participate in FIRST Championship and other larger events, we are evaluating several potential adjustments to our advancement protocols. The methods used will vary by program and location, and may include new invitational-style competitions, expansion of priority waitlists and/or other related systems, and increasing the number of FIRST Championship participation slots. We look forward to sharing additional information in the months ahead.

If you have questions or suggestions about these changes, visit the FIRST Championship FAQ to find answers and contact our support team. We are excited and confident that they will have positive impacts for our participants as we grow.

Thank you,
FIRST Leadership