Millennium + NPPL 2005?

[Baca Loco]

Originally posted by Robbo
evolution is slow and change is sometimes discrete and therefore from the pros point of view, no real need for any paradigm shift.

What needs to be radicalised is the format we use and the platform for this change is going to be the process toward TV.
I know you have doubts regarding this process and its consequences and they are probably well founded but I have always been of the opinion that we have nothing much to lose if we go down this road.

Since I's gonna be off the boards for a week I'll leave ya with this.
Right now, we've got the NPPL Pro League and the NXL both chasing TV. More power to 'em, success will revolutionize Paintball. But how exactly will that revolution alter the Pro universe?
For the NXLer's it holds out the promise of professional status and reward similar to how other pro sports in America operate. That's longer term. Shorter term, success promises upheaval, more pressure to compete, revolving rosters etc. until the league and teams settle down with the best available players competing within a reasonably stable framework. So far, so good--but potentially brutal reality for a lot of players.
For the NPPL Pro it's a restricted league whose teams originally validate the NPPL structure but once "branded" as the league of PB for TV (should it happen) the brand supercedes the teams within the league. I.E. don't matter how good or bad you are if you're not part of the structure. In the NXL model it's apparent how the Pros are rewarded. So far, in the NPPL model it ain't apparent at all--other than the proverbial rising tide lifts all boats.

Nor has anyone made the distinction between the Pro player and Pro owner. What is in the interest of one is not necessarily in the interest of the other.

No matter how you slice it the current PB universe is dependent on what either the NXL or the NPPL choose to do. By paradigm shift I'm wondering why everyone (the Pro teams) is prepared to leave their future prospects in others hands?

Play ball somebody else's way or don't play ball. Is that really what all the Pro teams out there have been working toward all this time?

 

[Robbo]

Originally posted by Baca Loco
Since I's gonna be off the boards for a week I'll leave ya with this.
Right now, we've got the NPPL Pro League and the NXL both chasing TV. More power to 'em, success will revolutionize Paintball. But how exactly will that revolution alter the Pro universe?
For the NXLer's it holds out the promise of professional status and reward similar to how other pro sports in America operate. That's longer term. Shorter term, success promises upheaval, more pressure to compete, revolving rosters etc. until the league and teams settle down with the best available players competing within a reasonably stable framework. So far, so good--but potentially brutal reality for a lot of players.
For the NPPL Pro it's a restricted league whose teams originally validate the NPPL structure but once "branded" as the league of PB for TV (should it happen) the brand supercedes the teams within the league. I.E. don't matter how good or bad you are if you're not part of the structure. In the NXL model it's apparent how the Pros are rewarded. So far, in the NPPL model it ain't apparent at all--other than the proverbial rising tide lifts all boats.

Nor has anyone made the distinction between the Pro player and Pro owner. What is in the interest of one is not necessarily in the interest of the other.

No matter how you slice it the current PB universe is dependent on what either the NXL or the NPPL choose to do. By paradigm shift I'm wondering why everyone (the Pro teams) is prepared to leave their future prospects in others hands?

Play ball somebody else's way or don't play ball. Is that really what all the Pro teams out there have been working toward all this time?

Paul, I ain't gonna question one iota of your synopsis and perhaps my lack of pessimism toward the changes that are a comin' is due to a lack of foresight on my part from a player's perspective or it may even be because I am joint owner of the team, it may even be because the media and in-house momentum this sport has generated in going for TV has ensnared me in its siren-like promises.

The pros relinquish the notion of any paradigm shift, not by design, but by default, because politically, as a body, they are weak and ill-organised and perhaps haven't thought through the consequences.
Raging optimism and / or ego may well have a lot of the pros believing that 'others' will fall under the hammer as rosters become more competitive and they themselves will sail on through to stardom, I don't really know but what I do know is this, we are a very young sport that is undoubtedly developing and as such, every layer of the game from Am to Pro will have to adjust and find its own place.
Some previously held beliefs will be swept aside as we march toward TV and that all-consuming ideal of 'money' will reek its all-reaching influence upon our sport.
All we have to do to try and predict what will happen is use common-sense, look at other sports, acknowledge people's greed and need for power, acknowledge individual's vanity and ego...and we won't go too far wrong.
But then, after reading your post, I think you have already done just that


Right, I'm off to training........

 

[Grendel-Khan]

So....paintball players union? Cant wait for th epower the threat of a sit out or lockout implies. Everybody looking forward to the NHL season? As for TV, the US market seems to be a littl emore respsonsive so PP, if TV coverage is the goal, would benefit more from expanding the US circuit than trying to cover Europe. The Houston TV market alone almost tops the whole of the UK. Add on San Antonio, New Orleans, Oklahoma city, Phoenix etc.. you have a completely untapped market in the south-southwest. Not only are there a lot of Pballers, theres a lot of rednecks who like to see people shooting each other. A major tournament in the south would draw a lot more teams both pros and on down, than any tourney in Europe. How many articles have I read where the "smaller player base" is blamed for every problem with euro ball? Do you think PP are going to ignore that just for the sake of having a tourney in Europe? Its all about the dolla dolla bills, ya'll. Dont ever forget that.