NXPL Tournament

[NXPL]

Random question but it says on your website that the event is supported by large selection of trade stands, can you elaborate on this? Do you have any confirmed vendors that we can rely on for good paint etc? if so who are they please? Also, what are the 'great prizes' likely to be?


-ChEf

Hi Chef,
As with any new tournament, if the teams are there to support, the vendors will attend. vendors wont confirm to any event unless its worth them being there, as the cost for attending them is huge. A great series such as wendy's has a good solid customer base and the vendors know by history that they can confirm attendance prior to teams registering.
Not much point a paint supplier attending if they have no teams shooting their brand......

As for prizes its too early to say, apart from there will be prizes and they will be worth winning

 

[topchef]

Hi Chef,
As with any new tournament, if the teams are there to support, the vendors will attend. vendors wont confirm to any event unless its worth them being there, as the cost for attending them is huge. A great series such as wendy's has a good solid customer base and the vendors know by history that they can confirm attendance prior to teams registering.
Not much point a paint supplier attending if they have no teams shooting their brand......

As for prizes its too early to say, apart from there will be prizes and they will be worth winning

So at this point no vendors as such and no confirmed prizes?

-ChEf

 

[onasilverbike]

I think you should make entry free, then more teams will play!

 

[Robbo]

I got no idea who these guys (NXPL) are but at least they are trying to put together another tournament option for people but they are coming up against the usual suspects in terms of obstacles when it comes to promoting events.

The basic tenet for any event is you get what you pay for and if you bear that in mind, you won't go too far wrong.
For people who wanna get involved in tournament promotion they go about in one of two ways:- The first way is what I call the Ged Green approach, he is the guy responsible for many of our sport's revolutionary shifts in direction, the electronic marker (Angel) for one and also bringing the game of paintball out of the woods with the original Hyperball events.

This guy put his money where his mouth was and INVESTED considerable cash into promoting a great event thus attracting the teams and vendors. He did this with Hyperball and emulated that strategy with the first Huntington Beach.

In other words, the Ged Green Strategy is invest first, thereby creating a product people want ...the point is, he hits the ground running.

The second method of event promotion is what these (NXPL) guys are doing and is a more cautious and sedentary approach.
The front end investment is minimal with promotion on websites such as these and try to drum up interest ... if momentum is generated then teams will come ...if teams come ..then so will vendors ....well that's the theory but as so often in life ..theory doesn't always live up to expectations.

The problems with this strategy are already self evident because we can see the thorny subject of unbiased marshaling has reared its head.
I'm afraid whenever teams already playing the event are allowed to judge, even if the judging is 100% fair (which of course I doubt it will be) then the 'perception' is always gonna be one of bias and self-interest.
And I'm afraid 'unhappy' customers (rightly or wrongly) is not a good recipe for continuance.

This option requires the teams (you guys) to invest the cash in the hope that if they can get enough of you to sign up, it then attracts the vendors and so if the front-end promotion isn't effective, this event series is already doomed.

I am in no way disrespecting these guys, as i say, i got no idea who they are, and I suppose this type of promotion is maybe symptomatic of what's going on within our industry where significant front-end investment is a thing of the past.

I don't know for sure if the NXPL's strategy is such a symptom but this country really needs another Ged Green; he has been rather sadly sidelined in what can only be described as a somewhat distasteful political machination and I don't see any successor to Ged's throne on the horizon.

And until there is, we will see these type event promotions spring up now and then but they are always gonna be hostage to player's whims and confidence in the product ....

 

[evoonline]

im all for new events especially if they are as local to me as this one is but for some reason nxpl has decided to set their events on the same days as rich harris which is all of 20mins away from this tournament.. i play for rich harris so will be supporting him but it would seem something underhand is going on here as the penkridge dates have been up for a couple of weeks. this wont help either event in the long run. i was also gonna offer my services to justin to help ref this until i saw the dates

 

[Silky]

the problems with self marshalling are obvious however the entry is 35 quid per person based on a 5 man squad if you take 7 guys then it works out at 25 quid. Most sites charge 15 quid entry just for walk on fees. having the tourney enviroment and structure aswell as marshalls, be them bad or good its gotta be better than no marshalling whatsoever. in addition to this theres likely to be 2 teams on field i would think to marshall each field 10 refs, there not all gonna be biased to everyone

ok its not a perfect tourney structure but as a go between for the price looks pretty good.

 

[Maddogwhitey]

personally, i think this is exactly what the uk scene needs, low cost events with players being involved at all levels and something that I hope wont dissapear up its own arse. Aberdeen Deviant will hopefully be entering a team and I wish you the best of luck. congratulations, and if there is anything that can be done to help I am more than willing to try.

Whitey

 

[Mr_Welly]

hope all goes well for u mate, hopefully i can play an event soon!

lee

mean machine

 

[Amac]

I do agree that the way the reffing is presented that there will be teams complaining but in my paintball career I have never been to an event that no one complains about the reffing if I ever do I will probably be retired by then.

I will be reffing, most likely as a head ref, watching over the team refs who are on the field. With my past experience of reffing in the PSP and dealing with Miami Rage (who listen to no one), parents telling there kids to shoot from the dead box and all the biased reffing that can happen still when some refs are linked to sponsors, teams, or friends I think that keeping a clear overview of the field and how the teams are being treated will not be to much to handle.

While Robbo is more than correct to say that "you get what you pay for" with the way the economic troubles are lowering the entry fee is the only way to still have players out doing what they enjoy. I cannot see the industry lowering its prices on equipment or paint for those who want to compete at the high level only adjusting their markets to those who are entering the sport.

I still remember when they installed Hyperball at my home field in PEI, Canada. Roddy "Rowdy" McDonald had brought the idea back since he was at the pinnacle of the advancements in the sport due to his travels for events.

The sport has come a long way but it desperately needs someone to really rethink how it is operated and how to make its next step, which I always thought would be into an olympic sport. I will be using my tech knowledge to hopefully advance paintball promotion online and have been looking into live broadcasting since that is one of the viral marketing methods I have been using for work lately.

Will this series be that step into the olympics no, but hopefully it will allow players who stop playing due to costs to still be able to play and support the industry and not just put their hard earned money into promoters pockets.

 

[kiwitim]

I don't know about anyone elses opinion, but I for one, was stoked to see this format offered, and we will be making damn sure that we do what we can to get our team down there for it! Alot of people don't get a chance to play X-Ball, and I think it's the way forward for a great series of fast games.
Obviously the amount of paint consumed in this format may limit a lot of teams, but the sheer volume of paint used SHOULD, enable us to get better prices - which will again help the sport.

Unfortunately...reffing WILL be an issue - as good as the will of all of us to do a fair job, there will be(as in all events), a call or 2 go against a team that could have gone either way - causing a problem (obviously). To help - If for some reason, we can't get a team together, I'm sure a couple of us will be willing to come down and ref...I would like to see this idea succeed.