End of the road for pros?
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...frikkin' 'ell, not bad Sick, not bad at all, you read my mind ...and suspected my vanity .... Narcissus got nuttin' on me mate.a mirror?
Edit: I took my wife out for a drink tonight coz we got bored and I ended up popping into TGI's at Bluewater .... we ain't in there 30 secs and a little Portuguese paintballer comes up to me and declares he, along with all of Nexus are all having a meal there, I of course went over to say 'hi' to a couple of the guys... what a small world in which we live, it really is.....oh, by the way, Tommy, you were eating quite fast there mate, were you nervous about something?
You'll get indigestion eating like that.....
It's ok, you ain't got nothing to worry about Tommy, I don't hit little kids.
Still, it was good to see Leigh and Dunny anyway, they are stand up guys and I miss them.
Alot of people are probably stopping Paintball as the price of living goes up.
Dahm the price of living! It is always going up but remains so popular
Dahm the price of living! It is always going up but remains so popular
I think a lot of people are stopping playing because the value for money has gone downhill in the last years and it's now freefalling. This will affect the whole industry and the pro players will also get their share of the cuts.
It was their fault to start with!
"We don't want to play with the lesser divisions"
"We want fast, agressive fields"
"We want to play this format, unaffordable for the lesser teams"
"This is a sport, not a carnival"
And while all of those statements are true, and are totally well intentioned and aimed toward the enhancement of "paintball as a sport" they did not take into account that the supporting mass of the industry (ie the sheer majority of the people that grab a paintball gun) does not see this as a sport but as a game.
EDIT: spelling... damn my English
It was their fault to start with!
"We don't want to play with the lesser divisions"
"We want fast, agressive fields"
"We want to play this format, unaffordable for the lesser teams"
"This is a sport, not a carnival"
And while all of those statements are true, and are totally well intentioned and aimed toward the enhancement of "paintball as a sport" they did not take into account that the supporting mass of the industry (ie the sheer majority of the people that grab a paintball gun) does not see this as a sport but as a game.
EDIT: spelling... damn my English
While I do agree with the above, I don't think you can blame the pros for that.
After all, there was this industry wide trend to start viewing paintball as a real sport, particularly since people kept promising that elusive television deal that would have the pros and the companies wallowing in money. From that perspective it made sense.
Why would it kill their business? The people that play tournament paintball will mostly continue to do so, so no loss of money there. Only the pros will have to start picking up their own bills again, so a number of them might leave, but they only cost money at the moment anyway, so no loss there.
A well executed campaign to raise awareness of recreational paintball will more likely attract far more people to paintball than anything tournament driven (which is a fact that us tournament heads will have to accept), which will mean more money for the companies involved, guaranteeing their continued involvement in paintball and which might even drop prices a little. So in the end it ain't even that bad for the lower level tournament players.
It just seems like Tournament ball has reached its peak as far as "industry" only sponsoring goes.
Only a very few teams have actually been able to secure sponsors outside the PB world(and im discounting those sponsored by pop's pub or sisters fish/chip shop)
True that rec ball is in fact far bigger as an income source to the industry.
But like all sports, paintball needs an "elite" part of it to keep the interest and something to aspire for or glorify. A showcase so to speak, just like F1(not the best comparison, but i hope i'll be forgiven).
So as far as i see it, right now paintball needs to get some airtime(lets face it, TV deals is where its at now).
Obviously this is my point of view and will most likely differ greatly from others, but i just dont see the Sport of paintball growing more "pro" without more outside sponsoring to showcase things.
D.
Only a very few teams have actually been able to secure sponsors outside the PB world(and im discounting those sponsored by pop's pub or sisters fish/chip shop)
True that rec ball is in fact far bigger as an income source to the industry.
But like all sports, paintball needs an "elite" part of it to keep the interest and something to aspire for or glorify. A showcase so to speak, just like F1(not the best comparison, but i hope i'll be forgiven).
So as far as i see it, right now paintball needs to get some airtime(lets face it, TV deals is where its at now).
Obviously this is my point of view and will most likely differ greatly from others, but i just dont see the Sport of paintball growing more "pro" without more outside sponsoring to showcase things.
D.
Paintball might need TV airtime but we ain't gonna get it unless we pay for it coz I don't exactly see a queue of network executives hustling to sign anybody up.
Smart Parts's last attempt fell flat on its face when they tried to give a comprehensive technical coverage but forgot that it's gotta be fun to watch.
The production needed a backdrop of thousands of approving spectators (like in Huntington Beach) but unfortunately it was shot in what might as well have been a frikkin morgue, it was embarrassing.
With our own industry positioning itself for pulling support from the pros, I hardly think it's likely we are gonna have any outside sponsors picking up any slack, sad but true.
So what? They've finally got to pay their way...big whoop, wanna fight about it? who gets it?
Lets face it, have they really deserved what they've had?
who gets it?Lets face it, have they really deserved what they've had?