Why did Reball centres fail?

[Hudson']

I'm interested to know in peoples opinions why the few Reball centres that were set up failed in this country? Surely they were the best thing to allow people to train more often. I know the balls don't fly the same etc but it couldn't of hurt practicing techniques/drills etc

 

[Andy Steele]

Probably because paintball is a hobby for the most part. There are very few people/teams that have the time and money to train at the places that were set up.

 

[Tom]

A reball centre will be an indoor facility
That brings business rates at a level that needs the venue in constant use just to pay rates
It is highly unlikely to get reball turnover to cover basic overheads, business diversity and other customers are required

 

[Panthro]

I agree with tommikka. Could have a bit to do with placement, but that again will come down to costs / overheads. A unit in the middle of nowhere will have cheap rent and rates but will not be appealing or easy to get too. A better unit, on a retail park for example, will have easy transport links etc but will be prohibitive due to astronomical rent.

The most successful ones in the states seem to be out the back of paintball shops *shrugs*

 

[Hudson']

Would it not be possible to do an outdoor centre that was carefully netted and perhaps with astro? That would certainly reduce the overheads!

 

[leachy]

NPF have an A-Ball arena, Astro turfed and netted and it get used regular

 

[Tony Harrison]

I'm interested to know in peoples opinions why the few Reball centres that were set up failed in this country? Surely they were the best thing to allow people to train more often. I know the balls don't fly the same etc but it couldn't of hurt practicing techniques/drills etc

Simple - nobody would pay to use them. They all wanted free or discounted training, which meant that the business model didn't work.

 

[Hudson']

If only NPF was nearer :/ I really think that its such a shame that these haven't worked out. Everyone says about grass roots and how difficult it is to get into paintball, but in my opinion this is the solution. It makes paintball accessible to those who don't have allot of money. I for one would have been playing regularly if there was one near me. Although reading old posts about it there seemed to be allot of negativity surrounding actually playing with Reballs. I really don't understand why, yes they don't fly the same and yes I guess they can mess your barrel if they get dirt on them but at the end of the day everyone has a stock barrel that they don't use and training with paint is just far too expensive for most.

 

[Tony Harrison]

So, support the site that is most local to you that offers training. For example, a local indoor site may be happy to offer training sessions if you take your own reballs.

 

[Hudson']

As far as I'm aware there are no local indoor sites. I could be wrong though.