EXL - Dead or just playing Dead?

[manike]

Originally posted by Robbo
You can only do this by presenting the sport in its competitive state and allowing the spectacle and excitement of the sport to be assimilated by the viewing public.

I agree. But I'm not sure everyone else does.

Originally posted by Robbo
I think Dick Clark might well have something else up his sleeve coz if he hasn't, a lot of people are gonna lose a lot of money, an awful lot of money.
We'll see.

I'm sure he is working closely with Smart Parts in everyone's best interests...

Err, anyway...

I'm getting more excited to see how the PB2X Tv show on spike is going to to fare. How come no-one is talking about that? It may well be paintballs break onto relatively mainstream TV. And it's a done deal.

http://www.nationalpaintball.com/html/pr_pb2x_tv.asp

 

[Grendel-Khan]

I can't wait! Another chance for Smart Parts to ruthlessly whore their products! This time on TV! I don't get to see enough **** about some trash I don't want as it is, more SP coverage !!!!!
(who the hell cares about the All A's 2? They may be in the NXL but they suuuuuuhuuuuuuck.) How pissed are the other NXL teams that they shelled out all this cash for the promise of TV coverage and they get diddly? Way to go SP, money for nothing.
They must be firm believers in the Enron business model.

 

[knobbs]

Originally posted by Robbo
The league / event type presentation (as was originally proposed)would have to precede any production such as this documentary because you have to generate interest in a new sport before you can even begin to sell the idea of a documentary.
You can only do this by presenting the sport in its competitive state and allowing the spectacle and excitement of the sport to be assimilated by the viewing public.
This takes time.
Seems to me, if this goes ahead, it's a classic cart before the horse.

While I tend to think along the same lines as this, I'm not so sure. Discovery did a "behind the scenes at the World Series of Poker" type show and it drummed up some interest and caught the attention of some industry insiders. A little down the road, out pops the World Poker Tour and the show has done astonishingly well. While I think this is kind of different (paintball has enough action not to have to have to sell it on human drama), who knows what it could drum up.

Either way, if that's how the Gardeners sell the NXL to TV, pretty much everyone but them and their teams are going to be some pissed off people.

 

[shamu]

Reality TV shows are all the rage right now on American TV. If they can have not one but two new shows about bounty hunters this fall, I think there may be a market for a paintball-based reality TV show. Let's face it, we can deliver the two things they look for on these shows - outrageous behaviour and general stupidity. Add in some well edited action scenes (I hope) and it could be a hit.

I'm sure whoever sold this talked a lot about the built-in market (11 million people a year play paintball! Fastest growing extreme sport!! 40,000 people at World Cup!!! 100,000 people at Huntington Beach!!!!)

 

[Robbo]

This whole idea of a documentary grates on me for two reasons; if it is a success in this form then it's a sad indictment on the viewing public where you can watch people you don't know, preparing for a sport you don't care about, in an arena that means nothing.
If it was a 'fly on the wall' production of a NFL or NBA team then this would spark some interest but I just can't allow myself to believe the American viewing public could watch this type production with paintball as its vehicle.
I would hardly describe this idea as the best way to flagship a new and exciting sport.

Secondly, it all seems so remedial inasmuch as the original idea was to put it on TV as a league-based format, I don't think it would have had as much chance as an event-based format production but hell, I don't think it's got any chance in the way they are supposedly putting it on now.

It beggars the question, why did Dick Clark change tack ?
This was no way his original idea for putting paintball on TV, something must have happend or rather didn't happen.

As I see it, the NXL guys have come so far and yet (at the moment) have little to show, the pressure is on for many reasons, not least of which are money and pride and these guys are held hostage to the vagaries of people like Dick Clark and Bo Carson.
Make no bones about it, Clark is the guy who holds the reins of the NXL's opportunity to go on TV, I think if I had money invested in XBall / NXL, I might be wondering where all this is going

 

[duffistuta]

Originally posted by Robbo
This whole idea of a documentary grates on me for two reasons; if it is a success in this form then it's a sad indictment on the viewing public where you can watch people you don't know, preparing for a sport you don't care about, in an arena that means nothing.

Two words: Big Brother.

Proof positive that the viewing public are a bunch of soft-brained mentalists.

 

[Robbo]

Originally posted by duffistuta
Two words: Big Brother.

Proof positive that the viewing public are a bunch of soft-brained mentalists.

Oh, I was fully aware of this but a documentary on paintballers preparing for a tournamnet to a virgin public is a completely different premise from a Big Brother type presentation.
The first is asking you to buy into the serroiusness of the sport (of which the public has no knowlegde) and therefore its attendant trials, tribulations and psersonalities can attract some degree of interest, the latter is just a fly on the wall look into a bunch of manufactured idiots, who all have varying degrees of attention deficiency syndrome with an environment also manufactured to encite ridiculous and artifical character conflicts.

Nah, ain't the same animal at all mate, not by a long way.

Oh and Duff, cutting and pasting my view on Big Brother and re-positioning it so it describes paintballers is oh so predictable

Aha, wasn't that a potential paradox I just indulged myself in

 

[duffistuta]

Ooh, hark at Zeno...

Must.....fight.....urge to post...

 

[Robbo]

Ooh, hark at Zeno...

Originally posted by duffistuta
Must.....fight.....urge to post...

Post .....and damn yourself

 

[knobbs]

Originally posted by Robbo
Oh, I was fully aware of this but a documentary on paintballers preparing for a tournamnet to a virgin public is a completely different premise from a Big Brother type presentation.
The first is asking you to buy into the serroiusness of the sport (of which the public has no knowlegde) and therefore its attendant trials, tribulations and psersonalities can attract some degree of interest, the latter is just a fly on the wall look into a bunch of manufactured idiots, who all have varying degrees of attention deficiency syndrome with an environment also manufactured to encite ridiculous and artifical character conflicts.

I really think that showcasing the sport that noone knew anything about is what made poker catch on. Most people laughed at the idea. "A world series of POKER??? It's all luck. There's no skill involved! All you do is bet alot when you have good cards." Then they saw the show--they see that there is skill involved. They saw the strategies, they saw the human side of it (watching a guy make a decision for over a million dollars in chips is a tense moment), and they saw that people could do wonders with absolute garbage.

Paintball has alot of the same to deliver. People think all we do is play army. People think that there's no training involved, and no real strategies..."all you do is go out and try to shoot the other guy, right?" They see us shooting cases per game and to them they are witnessing a bunch of bad shots, not people covering lanes.

The place I think this would fail is if it were the documentary as described. "See your nation's finest team, the Philedelphia Americans, fight their way to the top." Nobody cares. But if it is presented as a whole, about the game of paintball, the people that play it, and behind the scenes of the tournament...well, I think it might have an impact on our sport like the Discovery Channel did to poker.

I'm thinking PUSH with a little more mainstream bend to it. I know people who don't play paintball and probably will never play paintball, but who've sat down and watched PUSH with me and walked away really interested.

So, in summary: Reality show = bad. Documentary = possibly good, if done right. Full league on TV = Best possible solution, but may benefit from a documentary to get people sold on paintball as a sport first.