In 2017, the Championship was split into two events, being additionally held at the George R. Brown Convention Center and Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.

In 2018 and 2019, the Championship was held in Houston and Detroit, Michigan at the TCF Center and Ford Field.

The new Innovation Faire featuring displays and demonstrations from FIRST Sponsors, Partners and Suppliers took place at the Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel, The FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship and the Junior FIRST Lego League World Festival took place at Union Station (St. Louis), and the FIRST LEGO League World Festival as well as the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship took place at the Edward Jones Dome and America's Center.

The new arrangement was designed to give an "Olympic Village" feel and allow for more space to expand each individual program.

In 2020, FIRST decided to move the closing ceremonies for all programs from Minute Maid Park and Ford Field to the convention centers in Houston and Detroit respectively.

[6] The 2020 FIRST season was suspended on March 12, 2020, resulting in the cancellation of the Championship events in Houston and Detroit, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[2] The FIRST LEGO League World Championship was held as a virtual competition on April 18 and 19, 2020 and hosted by FLL Share and Learn.

Just over 20 teams competed at one event, which was held at Memorial High School in Manchester, New Hampshire.

[8] In 1993, the sole competition was held at Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, New Hampshire.

[10] In 1995, FIRST had grown to the point to which they had outgrown the one competition, so they moved to a regional qualifier system, and thus the FIRST championship was born.

In 2018 and 2019, Houston continued to host a championship, with Detroit, Michigan taking St. Louis's place.

The winners of each regional competition as well as the top teams from each district advance to the FIRST Championship.

The winning alliance from each division (a set of 4 teams) moves on to compete on the Einstein Field.

[31] At each championship, awards are presented to recognize teams for their performance in the competition, their robot's design, and their efforts to spread the message of FIRST.

[33] Up until the end of the 2016 season, winning alliances from Franklin and Edison went on to compete in the finals on the DaVinci Field.

The Open Championships are managed by FLL Partners with a goal to bring teams from different regions to complete and showcase their achievements.