Is it so good for paintball to become mainstream?

[Superflyuk]

Originally posted by stongle
I think it would be great of paintball ascertained the same status as Skateboarding or BMX.

yes but as i said in my other thread, the only way it will get same status is if we join extreme events together. skateboard and bmx kinda fed off each other for popularity and sticking paintball in an extreme sports events like urban games in london will promote the sport greatly

 

[le-pig]

Originally posted by Mario
outside sponsors: only good for the major teams as coca cola etc dont want to sponsor team numpty from numpty ville.

Prices going down?: more likely up/same for the short term so as companies can capitilise on more people getting in to sport.

paint deals: stretched even thinner by a sudden increase in teams wanting deals on paint. only the minority recieve...

but surley more interest/people playing would bring more demand on paint/equipment,thus leading to more companys setting up and supplying,leading to more compitition between said companys and prices dropping ,unless of course they agree to price fix
can't see it happening soon though,which may be a good thing and keep the riff raff out

 

[stongle]

The only benefit of mainstream acceptability to Joe Average I can envisage is thus:

Joe Average meets girl in bar.

Girl: "oohh do you work out"
Joe: "not much, I play Paintball for Evil Sharks"
Girl: "Oh cool, whats it like to play with Glen?"
Joe: "Oh he's cool n'all, much taller than he looks on TV"
Girl: "Well since I can't have him, do you want my number"
Joe: "Yeah ok, you wanna come back for a drink"

several hours later (05:00 to be precise):

Joe: "sling your hook love, I've gotta go and play"
Girl: "I understand you going to call?"

Basically she dosen't think your a pyscho if you play paintball. Joe Average might not make any more cash out of Paintball nor will it be cheaper, but I bet he gets err laid more often.

 

[Mario]

my point still stands. how long does it take to set up a factory/machine shop to make equipment. who has the money? prices for the best gats will remain the same coz it takes a whioe for new products to establish themselves. Customers in the paintball world are a loyal bunch and usually use the same company for a long time.....

edit: or what he said....

 

[Buddha 3]

Originally posted by le-pig
but surley more interest/people playing would bring more demand on paint/equipment,thus leading to more companys setting up and supplying,leading to more compitition between said companys and prices dropping ,unless of course they agree to price fix
can't see it happening soon though,which may be a good thing and keep the riff raff out

As it would happen in Nicey-Nice-land: "Blimey, sales have gone up dramatically. Well, since we can spread out overhead over more products sold now, we shall lower our prices. It's the nice thing to do."

In the meantime, back in the real world: "F*ck! Sales have skyrocketed. Let me see....peopleare quite willing to buy our stuff at these prices, so why should I even contemplate lowering them? Hell, as it is now becoming quite fashionable to use our stuff, let's up the prices!"

 

[le-pig]

mario

as i said i can't see it happening soon
i thought most paintball machines were based on pharmesutical(spelling) machines,so in therory it shouldn't be to hard to set up if you have the cash/backing.paint is paint if it's decent and cheap people will soon change there loyalties.
markers are different though i agree a lot of people will stick to what they know/or what is bling

 

[Mak D - Nexus Eclipse]

Cant beleive I'm reading this man................. Mario you need sum serious check pills dude, why the hell would paintball goin mainstream be anything but awesome. I certainly dont want paintballl to remain the way it is the now, I think the Pro teams should be training Monday to Friday 9-5 every week just like the legion, which could only happen with enough money from sponsors. If every Pro team trained 9-5 then it would be like watching the legion vs the legion, every team would have the ball on ball skills and the level of play would be out the heezy and it would be fcukin amazing to watch.

Its just hit me over the past few weeks that paintball NEEDS to mainstream and quick style man, or else one team is gonna dominate the whole world and its gonna be like Formula one watchin Schuey goin round and round win after win.

Paintball needs Coca Cola, Nike, Red Bull and Durex etc........... end of

Mak D

 

[Mario]

meh, im just trying to think of interesting threads....thas all...

 

[JoseDominguez]

Why wouldn't increased popularity bring prices down? it's already happened over here....... it only took one retailer to take a bit of a stand last year and suddenly I'm paying £50 for a proteus from pretty much anywhere. More mainstream, more players, once we stop being a closed shop the prices will come down, they have to...... all it takes is one manufacturer to say..... well, lets sell 1000 of our new markers at £500 instead of 500 at £1000 and bang, everyone has to follow suit. Anyway, the big problem is paint.... I've ran into a few rec-ballers recently who have done a bit of research and know "how much paint really costs". I know about the overheads/seasonality/insurance costs, but most punters aren't going to see that.
The main thing stopping us going "mainstream" is cost..... players come for a rec-day, love it and wish they could come regularly, but they can't afford it and never find out about the tourney side of things. To most ,paintball is a birthday/stag party or treat organised by work. It's once or twice a year at most. Out of the 140 or so at your local site this weekend, how many are aware of tourney ball? rec ball is the bread and butter of paintball..... for every group of players that find out about "tourney, walk ons and tem practice" you lose paying customers.
Promote the sport, cut into profit (until you've introduced enough bodies to make recball affordable as a regular hobby).