Halfbaked idea for Monday:

[Gyroscope]

How about making a requirement that teams entering the professional division of the NPPL have a minimum sponsor portfolio/ budget in addition to the wins needed to promote to the division?

I understand that the NPPL is not overjoyed about teams selling their spots. I see that as their perrogative, given that they earned a spot, but oh well.

Some teams may not be supported enough to make a serious go of a season in pro. Since "professional" implies money as well as skills, would it make sense to require some evidence that a team is on a footing to compete among other professional paintball teams? Getting there is one kind of evidence, and maybe this will all shake out in a couple of years anyhow. This was just a notion I had thinking about salary caps in other sports... paintball might benefit from the opposite sort of limit, a lower reach.

 

[shamu]

What would you use as proof of support? it seems like most sponsorships aren't worth the paper they're written on... that's assuming they actually put something in writing. It seems like it would be hard for any but the factory and highest level teams to prove they could afford to play the circuit

I think this will sort itself out over the next year or two. Teams that don't have the money to support themselves will either fold or sell their spot and move to semi-pro.

Or we could see NXL-style buy-in requirements. That would be fun

 

[Gyroscope]

Well, I am talking about factory and highest level teams. I am suggesting this requirement for pro teams. I would suggest that it consist of a contract or statement of intent or whatever, registered with the NPPL. I find it astonishing to contemplate significant sponsorships among pro teams not including some sort of written agreement. I'm not talking about free T-shirts from Joe Bob's World of paintball, I am talking about Dye, System-X (ahem), Shocktech... Lots of sponsorships may not be worth the paper they're printed on, but that needs to change to achieve professionalism. Registering team finances with the league wouldn't be so far out of the ordinary in terms of real sports.

It might bring some standardization about, it might formalize some relationships that rely on goodwill at the moment, and it might result in something of an evening effect foe the pro division. Right now, there is more than one kind of pro, anyway: teams like XSV and Dynasty, and teams like the Tigers and the Hurricanes and Sedition. This isn't a slur on those teams, and maybe disparity due to money is something that we will have to live with.