FTC State Championship Moves to Beloit for the 2026 DECODE™ Season!

FIRST Wisconsin is excited to announce that the 2026 FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship—celebrating the 2025–2026 DECODE™ season—will be held at Beloit College on Friday and Saturday, March 13–14, 2026.

This marks a major milestone for our FTC community:

• 📍 The first official FTC tournament ever hosted in the Beloit area

• 🎓 The first time Beloit College has served as a championship venue

Although the region has welcomed off-season FTC events in past years, thanks to work done by Turtle Tek for the 2024 Bots on Base and 2025 Bots at Beloit in 2025, this will be the first official competition brought to the community—expanding access, excitement, and visibility for the FIRST program in southern Wisconsin.

(FIRST Wisconsin Key Volunteers at the 2024 Bots on Base Off-Season Event, hosted at ABC Supply Stadium during a Beloit Sky Carp home game)

🔍 A Championship Built for the DECODE™ Season

In a season centered on uncovering patterns, cracking digital puzzles, and engineering solutions that reveal what’s hidden beneath the surface, we’re thrilled to introduce a new location with deep roots for teams to showcase everything they’ve learned. Beloit College—the oldest continuously operating college in Wisconsin—brings a rich history of learning, innovation, and discovery to the FIRST Tech Challenge program that aligns perfectly with the spirit of the DECODE™ season.

🤝 A New Partnership in Southern Wisconsin

FIRST Wisconsin is proud to excited to host the event at Beloit College, a campus known for its commitment to hands-on learning, innovation, and supporting the next generation of problem-solvers. This new venue brings energy and opportunity to a growing region of the state, supporting our vision that every Wisconsin student has the opportunity to participate in FIRST. Our vision describes the long-term future we aim to create—it is inspirational and defines what success looks like when our work is fully realized. In practice, it guides long-term decisions and statewide priorities

📅 Stay Tuned

More details—including the event schedule, volunteer registration, and team qualifying—will be released before the start of the new year in December of 2025. We do know that, similar to last year, FTC State CMP judging will take place Friday afternoon.

We can’t wait to welcome teams, volunteers, partners, and families to Beloit College as we work together to DECODE™ the challenge and celebrate Wisconsin’s brightest young engineers.

Renee Becker-Blau