Dear FIRST® mentors and coaches,

If you’ve joined us at FIRST Championship before, you know it’s a fun and rewarding multi-day celebration that brings together teams from all FIRST programs to cap off the season. We want to let you know we’re making some changes to the Saturday Closing Celebration of the 2020 FIRST Championship, presented by Qualcomm® Incorporated, in Houston and Detroit to make them even more fun and rewarding for teams.

This reimagined experience for the FIRST Championship Closing Celebration will bring together FIRST® LEGO® League Jr., FIRST® LEGO® League, FIRST® Tech Challenge, and FIRST® Robotics Competition celebrations under the roofs of the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston and the TFC Center (formerly the Cobo Center) in Detroit. Each program will have a custom experience, while a global broadcast throughout the convention centers will keep attendees up-to-date on highlights from each program.

We’ll be kicking off with a joint Closing Celebration involving all programs at 1:30 p.m., followed by final matches and awards ceremonies for FIRST LEGO League, FIRST Tech Challenge, and FIRST Robotics Competition. We’ll also end the evening earlier than past years, leaving time for your team and new robot friends to celebrate together in Houston and Detroit.

Below is a general schedule for Saturday, April 18, in Houston and Saturday, May 2, in Detroit:

FIRST Robotics Competition pits open for morning final alliance selections and divisional match play at 6:45 a.m.
FIRST Tech Challenge pits open and game action begins at 7:00 a.m.
FIRST LEGO League opens at 7:30 a.m.
FIRST LEGO League Jr. World Festival Expo opens at 10:30 a.m.
FIRST LEGO League Jr. Awards Ceremony at 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
FIRST Championship Closing Celebration for all programs begins at 1:30 p.m. and is expected to end in early evening.
Visit firstchampionship.org beginning in mid-February for the multi-day FIRST Championship schedule with time and location details. We hope to see you in a few months as we cap off our season of FIRST RISESM, powered by Star Wars: Force for Change.

Your friends at FIRST