I hope you and I are right, but my cynicism forces me to say that, as outlined above, I fear that there is a good chance "Johnny Player" may end up out of pocket here...
Just look at the threads re sponsors and the MS.
I think the player will most certainly have to pay but I also think the vendors and sponsors will also be pillaged.
I got a love-hate relationship going on with the guys on the Millennium because on one hand I think they have done a great job and sometimes their heart is in the right place but they have this unerring habit of either taking their off the ball in terms of customer care or just not thinking how they are coming across.
I would love for those guys to actually listen to me (and of course others like yourself) instead of just reacting to me as so often happens because in this sense, I probably do more harm than good because it just entrenches their position.
The problem with letting this situation continue is eventually and inevitably someone else is gonna come in, set up another event series and sweep them away and to be honest, i don't really want that because i like those guys.
They have all put way too much in and apart from one, maybe two of them, I think they genuinely want to do what's best for Euro paintball.
Don't get wrong here, I ain't saying they are philanthropists only in it for the love of the game but if they were running this series to make them all money, then it would have closed down years ago.
They do enjoy considerable incomes from this series though, profits and incomes are two different things as you know mate but that don't bother me much coz i think they deserve it for all the cr@p they have to put up with.
I just think they could do it so much better with a little tweaking here and there (and it wouldn't really cost them much) and they would have a much happier (and responsive) customer base and less prone to anybody coming in as a competitor as will; inevitably happen if things continue no matter what outside sponsor they have or TV deal they might enjoy.
It's OK getting these things in but it also alerts others to the potential and if you haven't been treating your core market appropriately, then it makes you ripe for plucking ... and as you know Jay, there are plenty of pluckers out there [/rhyming slang]
I would just like them to take a deep breath, sack ulrich, open their ears, switch off their egos, sack ulrich and then sit down with teams and vendors and ACTUALLY listen to their customers and then sack ulrich....is that too much to ask?
I hope it isn't ....
