The 2027 FRC Season Calendar: Every Deadline & Fee

The 2027 FIRST Robotics Competition season is BIOCORE presented by Haas, part of the cross-program FIRST CANOPY season, and it reveals on January 9, 2027 at 12:00 p.m. ET. But the deadline that actually decides whether your team competes lands almost two months earlier: November 17, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET, when season registration payment is due. Miss it and you are not on an event roster, no matter how good your robot would have been.

Season registration for 2027 is $6,500, confirmed on the official FIRST cost and registration page. That fee covers one Regional event if you are a regional-model team, or two District events if you are in a district. Everything else — a second regional, a district championship, Houston, the robot itself — is on top. This page is the complete, verified deadline and fee schedule pulled from firstinspires.org as of August 3, 2026, with explicit notes wherever FIRST has not published a 2027 number yet.

A note on how to use this: registration is not a single date, it is a six-week sequence of preferencing rounds that starts opening in late September. Teams that treat "registration closes November 17" as their only deadline routinely end up on waitlists for the events they wanted. The rounds are where event assignment actually happens.

The full 2027 FRC deadline table

Every time below is Eastern Time, taken from the official FIRST program calendar.

Two dates on that list carry money: November 17 and January 21. Everything else is a door that opens or closes.

Registration and payment: the rounds that decide your events

Team registration for BIOCORE opened on the refreshed FIRST Dashboard on June 17, 2026, and the new FIRST Storefront opened in July 2026. Season registration payment becomes available in September 2026 — so as of early August you can build your team profile, set up a financial guarantor, and add credits to your account, but you cannot yet pay.

Event assignment runs in two preferencing rounds. Round 1 runs September 24 through October 1 and covers your first Regional or your first District event. Round 2 runs October 15 through October 22 and covers your second event. If you miss a round, late registration opens the next day (October 2 and October 23) and you pick from whatever is left — which in popular regions is not much.

After that, three more windows open in sequence: Unrestricted Regional registration and Additional In-District registration on October 29, and Additional Inter-District registration on November 5. All three close at noon on November 17, the same moment Kit & Kickoff registration closes. Payment for your initial event is due five hours later, at 5:00 p.m. ET on November 17, 2026.

Additional events you register for are billed separately, and that money is due January 21, 2027 at 5:00 p.m. ET — twelve days after Kickoff, which is a genuinely awkward spot in a rookie budget. Plan for it in November, not in January.

One more registration detail that is easy to miss: as part of Kit & Kickoff registration, every team must choose either a local Kickoff pickup location for its Kickoff Kit or provide a shipping address (extra fees apply, and the address must be a FedEx-deliverable street address — no PO boxes, no APO). Kickoff Kit shipments start in December once a team has secured its registration fee, and FIRST explicitly states there is no guaranteed delivery date.

What 2027 actually costs

FIRST Israel teams pay the same $6,500 season fee but follow FIRST Israel's own payment terms, fees, and payment due dates as published on the FIRST Israel website. As of August 3, 2026, FIRST lists pricing for FIRST Ontario and the Pacific Northwest as "More information coming soon."

What the $6,500 buys, per FIRST: an official team number for new teams; the Kit of Parts (Kickoff Kit, Virtual Kit, and FIRST Choice credits); eligibility for submitted awards, including the FIRST Impact Award (veterans only), the student FIRST Leadership Award, and the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award; team roster access; and participation at one Regional or two District events.

So the realistic season totals look like this. A regional-model team playing one regional pays $6,500. Add a second regional and you are at $9,700. A district team pays $6,500 for two district events; a third district event pushes it to $7,500, and District Championship adds $4,000 for $11,500. Qualify for Houston from either path and add $6,000 — before flights, hotel, and a truck.

Two costs FIRST does not put a number on. First, the robot: the cost page lists an estimated supporting-materials figure for FIRST Tech Challenge ($1,500) but publishes no equivalent estimate for FRC. Second, MySite shipping — FIRST says teams not attending a local Kickoff can have the Kickoff Kit shipped "for an additional fee" without publishing the amount for 2027. Model both yourself in the FRC budget calculator rather than guessing, and if you are starting from zero, read how to start an FRC team alongside it.

New for this season: FIRST updated its sales-tax collection practices after a review by an independent tax consultant. Registrations that include physical items are taxed based on the shipping address in applicable jurisdictions, and registration fees without physical items — including event registrations — may also be taxed in some areas. Teams that were never taxed before may see sales tax on 2026-2027 invoices. Budget a buffer.

What changed for 2027

A new Storefront and a required financial guarantor. The FIRST Storefront replaces the old Dashboard and PITSCO checkout processes. If your team pays by purchase order or uses a sales-tax exemption certificate, your team profile must be linked to a financial guarantor — an organization with an EIN (or international equivalent) whose "organization administrator" can purchase on your behalf. You can set this up now from the "Team/Account Finances" tab, and you should: doing it in November while a PO is in flight is how teams miss the payment deadline. Teams that used to pay their district directly can now either buy through the Storefront or add their district as the financial guarantor.

Opt-outs moved into checkout. In past seasons, the Drive Base and Black Tote opt-outs were a separate task with their own September deadline. For 2027, FIRST has folded both opt-outs — and your Kickoff/kit shipping selection — into the registration checkout that opens in September. For reference, the Black Tote opt-out has traded for a $125 AndyMark voucher plus a $125 REV Robotics voucher, and the drive base opt-out trades the kit for an AndyMark voucher whose amount FIRST has not published for 2027; the FIRST calendar's opt-out entry still carries prior-season text, so treat all voucher values as unpublished for 2027. The default is still that both ship with your Kickoff Kit, so rookies and anyone who wants the parts do nothing.

Grant funds now roll over. Starting with 2026-2027, grant funding applied to a team account is available for more than one season, with expiration dates visible in the Storefront, and can be spent on any Storefront purchase including registration and event fees. U.S. teams can also apply to regrant funds toward travel, tools, and other program expenses where that is available in their region. Unused funding left after its expiration date is removed and redirected to FIRST collective team funding — so it is use-it-or-lose-it, just on a longer clock.

Regional teams can play District events. New for 2027, a regional-model team may register for a District event for $1,000, starting with Inter-District Registration on November 5, 2026. The catch is real: those teams cannot advance directly to FIRST Championship, cannot earn Regional Points, and are not eligible for Cultural Awards (Impact, Engineering Inspiration, Rookie All-Star, FIRST Leadership, Woodie Flowers Finalist) at that event. It is aimed at teams sitting just outside a district border. Out-of-district registrants go on a waitlist until the District Partner adds them, and Partners may decline. If you are weighing this, districts vs. regionals is the background you want.

In-country events come first. Beginning this season, teams are required to register for an event in their home country during Round 1 preferencing if one exists. Teams with no home-country event may preference any Regional. FIRST is also adding events outside the U.S. in 2027, including a new Regional in the Netherlands, and hopes to bring back events that did not run in 2026.

The control system changes. SystemCore replaces the roboRIO for FRC starting with the 2027 season. WPILib's 2027 documentation calls it "the biggest control system update since the introduction of the cRIO": Java 25 and C++ 23 are required, NetworkTables v3 support is gone, and Shuffleboard, SmartDashboard, PathWeaver, and RobotBuilder have been removed. SystemCore is built on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 with an onboard IMU, multiple CAN buses, and reconfigurable I/O. FIRST said in October 2025 it was "on target to meet our goal of offering Systemcore at a lower price than the roboRIO," but as of August 3, 2026 no SystemCore price has been published, and FIRST has not stated whether it ships in the 2027 Kickoff Kit. Treat it as an unbudgeted line item until FIRST says otherwise, and get your programmers reading the 2027 WPILib docs now rather than in January. Our control system explainer covers the pieces that are not changing.

Scoring elements are pre-orderable. FIRST announced on June 8, 2026 that BIOCORE has one type of scoring element, that robots will have a holding limit greater than one, and that pre-orders are open through AndyMark from now until Kickoff on January 9, 2027, with two quantity options: a Kickoff Kit quantity and a one-fifth field quantity. Pre-orders begin shipping January 11. The only places to get the official element are the Kickoff Kit or AndyMark. FIRST did not publish a price in that announcement.

Grant deadlines to hit before payment is due

The whole point of a grant calendar is that it runs ahead of the November 17 payment deadline. Two FRC grants are open right now on the FIRST Team Grant Opportunities page:

• BAE Systems FIRST Team Grant (FRC) — open May 22 through September 13, 2026. Rookie and veteran teams. Priority to teams within 75 miles of a BAE Systems site, teams with BAE mentors or an existing relationship, and teams affiliated with Title 1 schools (40%+ free/reduced lunch) or high-need schools (50%+).
• Boston Scientific FIRST Robotics Competition Grant — open July 28 through September 30, 2026. Rookie and veteran teams within 60 miles of Boston Scientific locations in California, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Minnesota; school or community economic data is required.

The Dow FIRST Robotics Competition Grant closed June 30, 2026 for this cycle. FIRST does not publish dollar amounts for most of these grants — awards are set by the sponsor.

NASA is the big open question. For 2025-2026, the NASA FRC grant window ran September 1–30, 2025, covered the team's first Regional or district registration, prioritized rookies (no veteran grants that year), and required year-two teams to have secured $5,000 in corporate funds. As of August 3, 2026, NASA has not posted a 2026-2027 FRC sponsorship grant; the Robotics Alliance Project's pattern is to publish in early September with awards announced in November. Check robotics.nasa.gov the first week of September.

Two operational rules that save teams real money. First, apply before you pay: several sponsor grants in the previous cycle explicitly instructed teams to register but not pay, because paying forfeits the grant. Read each application's language before you check out. Second, sponsor grants are slow — the corporate route through mentors' employers takes weeks, which is exactly why the September deadlines exist. Start the asks now with a sponsorship approach that actually works, and put the numbers in a team budget worksheet you can hand a sponsor.

Kit release to Kickoff: November 12 to January 9

The season does not start at Kickoff. The Pre-Kickoff Virtual Kit releases November 12, 2026, which is when software licenses and vendor vouchers land — CAD tools, simulation software, supplier credits. Teams that download and install everything in November instead of during Week 1 of build season gain a full weekend.

MySite roll-over is December 1, and Kickoff Kits begin shipping in December for teams that have secured their registration fee. Then Kickoff is January 9, 2027, 12:00–1:30 p.m. ET, streamed on the FIRST Robotics Competition YouTube channel, with the BIOCORE game reveal and manual release. At 1:00 p.m. the same day, the Virtual Kit Kickoff release goes live, the Kickoff Kit Replacement Parts System opens (through January 16 at noon), and FIRST Choice priority lists open (through January 18 at noon). The Official Q&A opens January 13.

Then the clock: Week Zero on February 20, Week 1 events starting March 3, and seven competition weeks running to April 18. Award submissions cut across build season — Leadership and Woodie Flowers close February 4 at 3:00 p.m., Impact closes February 11 at 3:00 p.m. — which means your Impact Award draft needs to exist before your robot works. Teams that wait until the robot is done miss it every year. If you want a week-by-week plan for the weeks after Kickoff, our build season timeline maps it out, and what happens at FRC Kickoff covers day one specifically.

One qualification detail worth flagging early: FIRST Impact Award winners must secure their District Championship slot within 72 hours of notification if they qualify in Weeks 1–4, or 48 hours in Weeks 5–7. That is a payment decision made under a two-day clock in the middle of competition season. Decide in advance who can authorize $4,000.

Your copy-paste 2027 checklist

Put these eight lines in your team calendar today, with reminders one week out:

1. Now — set up your financial guarantor (EIN) in the Dashboard under Team/Account Finances, and confirm your intent to participate so you receive BIOCORE team blasts.
2. Sept 13, 2026 — BAE Systems FRC grant application closes.
3. Sept 24 – Oct 1, 2026 — Round 1 event preferencing. Do not skip it.
4. Sept 30, 2026 — Boston Scientific FRC grant closes; watch for NASA's 2027 announcement.
5. Oct 15 – Oct 22, 2026 — Round 2 event preferencing.
6. Nov 17, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET — season registration payment due. Hard stop.
7. Jan 9, 2027, 12:00 p.m. ET — Kickoff.
8. Jan 21, 2027, 5:00 p.m. ET — additional event payment due.

Everything above is verified against firstinspires.org as of August 3, 2026. FIRST has not yet published 2026-2027 payment terms and refund policy, SystemCore pricing, MySite shipping fees, 2027 opt-out voucher values, or additional-event pricing for FIRST Ontario and the Pacific Northwest. Check the official calendar before you commit money.

Frequently asked questions

When does FRC 2027 registration close?**

All FIRST Robotics Competition District and Regional event registration for the 2027 BIOCORE season closes at 12:00 p.m. ET on November 17, 2026, and Kit & Kickoff registration closes at the same moment. Payment for your initial event registration is due at 5:00 p.m. ET the same day. Payment for any additional events you registered for is due January 21, 2027 at 5:00 p.m. ET. There is no separate later window — the two preferencing rounds (September 24–October 1 and October 15–22) and the late-registration and unrestricted-registration windows all funnel into that November 17 close.

How much does it cost to run an FRC team in 2027?

Season registration is $6,500, which includes one Regional event for regional-model teams or two District events for district teams. A second regional costs $3,200; an additional district event in most districts costs $1,000. District Championship is $4,000 and FIRST Championship is $6,000. A district team that plays three district events and District Championship is at $11,500 in FIRST fees alone. None of that includes the robot, tools, travel, or the sales tax that FIRST began collecting more broadly for 2026-2027. FIRST publishes an estimated supporting-materials figure for FIRST Tech Challenge ($1,500) but not for FRC.

Do rookie FRC teams pay less than veteran teams?

No. There is no separate rookie price for 2027 — every team pays the same $6,500 season registration. Rookies do get things veterans do not: an official team number is included in the fee, and rookies receive the drive base and Black Tote by default in the Kickoff Kit (veterans may opt out of both during checkout in exchange for supplier vouchers). The trade-off runs the other way on awards: the FIRST Impact Award is open to veteran teams only, though the student FIRST Leadership Award and Woodie Flowers Finalist Award are not.

When is FRC Kickoff 2027 and where do I watch it?

Kickoff is January 9, 2027, 12:00–1:30 p.m. ET. FIRST will stream the 2027 season kickoff celebration and the BIOCORE presented by Haas game reveal on the FIRST Robotics Competition YouTube channel. The Virtual Kit Kickoff release, the Kickoff Kit Replacement Parts request window, and FIRST Choice priority lists all open at 1:00 p.m. ET that same afternoon, so have someone assigned to each of those tasks before the stream ends.

Can a regional team compete at a district event in 2027?

Yes — this is new for the 2027 season. Regional teams may register for District events for $1,000 per event, starting with Inter-District Registration on November 5, 2026. The restrictions match those for district teams playing outside their home district: no direct advancement to FIRST Championship from that event, no Regional Points, and no eligibility for Cultural Awards there (Impact, Engineering Inspiration, Rookie All-Star, FIRST Leadership, Woodie Flowers Finalist). Out-of-district registrants are waitlisted until the District Partner accepts them, and Partners may decline based on event capacity.

**Will my roboRIO still work in 2027?

The 2027 season moves FRC to SystemCore, and WPILib's 2027 documentation is written around it — Java 25 and C++ 23 are required, NetworkTables v3 support is removed, and Shuffleboard, SmartDashboard, PathWeaver, and RobotBuilder are gone. FIRST has not published SystemCore pricing, and the 2027 robot rules that formally define what hardware is legal arrive with the BIOCORE game manual at Kickoff on January 9, 2027. The safe planning assumption: budget for a control-system transition, start porting code against the 2027 WPILib release rather than waiting, and confirm the hardware rules the moment the manual drops.