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Millennium Series 2014 changes

Gadget

Platinum Member
Jul 16, 2002
1,759
619
148
Essex, UK
Taken from: http://www.millennium-series.com/downloads/2014-divisions-millennium-series.pdf

MILLENNIUM SERIES 2014
DIVISIONAL STRUCTURE DETAILS


The Millennium Series is the oldest, most established & highest quality professional paintball series worldwide.
The Millennium’s ethos has always been to bring paintball into the mainstream and to make our sport grow and gain recognition as a full blown sport. We are renowned for innovation and creative thinking in order to achieve this goal.
2014 is our 15th anniversary and we want to make sure there is a place for everyone who loves playing our sport at all levels. From the Champions League (CPL) to a new 5 Man Breakout Format, there is a division to suit all teams so that everyone can join the Millennium experience & join in on the party atmosphere that will dominate the 2014 season.

The Millennium Series is classified as EPBF Grand Slam, giving the highest EPBF ranking points of any events held. No other Tournaments are classified as EPBF Grand Slam. This substantially helps your overall European team ranking.
In all divisions, except M5 Breakout, The Millennium Series uses the “Race To” format. Invented by The Millennium Series this format is now used worldwide and has become the sporting standard.

Starting from the top the Millennium has three locked league divisions where teams play the entire season and will win or lose promotion / relegation on seasonal results. We know that this is a big commitment for a team both in costs and time and so we offer two Open Divisions plus a new 5 Man Breakout division that anybody can enter as many or as few times a season as they desire. Although there are seasonal placings, nobody has to commit to the season. The level in these open divisions is still quite high & so now from 2014 we are introducing a new 5 Man Breakout Division which is aimed at new up & coming teams wanting to enjoy the Millennium experience or for teams that want to play the occasional event for fun. The details of each division are briefly explained below;

Champions League (CPL)

The best 16 teams compete in the CPL, which is truly a league of National European Champions featuring the best European teams & some of the best players from all over the world. This is the pinnacle of Professional paintball where careers are earned & sometimes Burnt. At the season end the top four qualify for the Intercontinental Cup, the bottom two
will be relegated to the SPL 1 Division.
The CPL plays in Race To Format (Visit www.millennium-series.com for details).

CPL specifics:
- One period of 15 minutes
- Race to 5 points (R:5)
- Switch sides after each 3 points awarded

Not only do CPL teams play to gain the Title of “Champions” but also Prize Money is paid out to 6th place. All CPL teams are leaseholders of the League and so entry to the CPL can only be gained by promotion from below or in the case where a team is prepared to sell its lease.
2014 CPL Lease Holder Fees: €8,000 + Vat for entire Season

Semi-Pro League 1 (SPL1)

The Semi Pro League 1 SPL1 is locked to 32 teams. All teams commit for the full series. The top two teams will be promoted to CPL, teams ranked 29 - 32 will be relegated to SPL2 after the season.
The SPL plays in Race To Format. (Visit www.millennium-series.com for details).

SPL1 Specifics:
- One Period of 10 Minutes
- Race to 4 Points (R:4)
- Switch sides after each 2 points awarded

All SPL1 Teams are leaseholders of the league and so entry to SPL1 can only be gained by promotion from SPL2 (or relegation from CPL), or in the case where a team is prepared to sell its lease.
2014 SPL1 Lease Holder Fees: €5,000 + Vat for entire Season

Semi-Pro League 2 (SPL2) – Formerly Division 1

Semi-Pro League 2 (SPL2) is locked at a variable number of teams per season, the maximum being 34. All teams commit for the full series. The top four teams will be promoted to SPL1; the bottom 4 ranked teams will be relegated out of the locked divisions and will then have the option of playing in the open divisions after the season. Teams in SPL2 may apply to the MS team ref program. If selected, they can gain up to 100 series points and up to €1000, whilst saving costs on accommodation, when reffing at one event.
The SPL plays in Race To Format. (Visit www.millennium-series.com for details).

SPL2 Specifics:
- One Period of 10 Minutes
- Race to 4 Points (R:4)
- Switch sides after each 2 points awarded
2014 SPL2 Lease Holder Fees: €4,400 + Vat for the entire Season

Open Division 1 (OD1) – Formerly Division 2

OD1 has a limited number of maximum teams per event. The maximum number may vary from event to event & you will see this number on each event inscription. Teams who wish to play OD1 do not have to commit to the season and can play as many or as few events as they wish. However, at the end of the season the top 3 teams will win promotion into SPL2 and be awarded a lease without any lease purchase costs at all, thereby allowing your team to progress through the locked league system.
OD1 plays in Race To Format. (Visit www.millennium-series.com for details).

OD1 Specifics:
- One Period of 10 Minutes
- Race to 4 Points (R:4)
- Switch sides after each 2 points awarded
2014 OD1 Entry Fees: €1200 + Vat per event or €4,400 + Vat for all 4 events if committing to the full season

Open Division 2 (OD2) – Formerly Division 3

For 2014, OD2 is normally limited to 30 teams per event. Depending on daylight hours and demand, for some events we may look to increase this number and once full, will operate a waiting list.
Order of registration/payment will decide which teams may enter the tournament. We aim for up to 5 games in prelims for OD2 teams, playing in R:2 format, so first team to score 2 points will win. Each game consists of minimum two points and maximum three points. Break-time between rounds will be 2 minutes; total game time will be 8 minutes. All regular rules of Race To format apply.
The final games only (games for 3rd and 1st place) will be played in R:4 format, to give the top teams of OD2 a taste of OD1 atmosphere in order to bridge the gap between these categories.
OD2 will play Saturday and Sunday only. Teams who wish to play OD2 do not have to commit to the season and can play as many or as few events as they wish. However, based on points received during the season teams will be placed & a Champion crowned at the season end.

2014 OD2 Entry Fees: €750 + Vat per event or €2600 + Vat for all 4 events if committing to the full season

5 Man Open “Breakout” Division – New For 2014

The level of competition in the Millennium Series can be very high throughout all divisions & sometimes new teams & teams that just want to play for fun can find this a challenge. In order to give every level of team a taste of the Millennium Series and to be a part of the atmosphere that brings the best aspects of paintball together, we are introducing a 5 man Division. Players who have played in the Millennium at any level in the previous year will not be able to enter the 5 Man Division in order to help ensure that an enjoyable level of play exists.

The 5 Man Breakout division will normally be limited to 12 teams depending on daylight hours, venue and demand. For some events we may look to increase this number and once full will operate a waiting list. We aim for up to 10 games in
prelims, playing by 5-man rules, where teams score points like in football, (3 points for a win, 1 point each for a draw & 0 points for a loss). The number of live players at the end of each game will be taken into account. Game times will be 5 minutes max per game. The starting base area will be enlarged to assist players in reaching their primary bunkers more often .
2014 5 Man Breakout Entry Fees: €550 + Vat per event
 

blakey64

Active Member
Jun 2, 2012
207
97
38
Must admit I am a little surprised at the announcement, was expecting something a little punchier. Good to see the breakout division being taken on board by the Mills. I am guessing but I feel that there will be a lot of disappointed ballers out there, who may have been expecting a foray into another European Country, maybe Italy, Portugal or Holland. The Millenium team are to be applauded for all they have achieved too date, and all credit to them for pushing the sport forward.
 

Richiemonk

Well-Known Member
Jul 24, 2005
867
194
78
Norfolk
Not entirely sure pushing forward is the correct choice of words, As Ash says, changing div names and adding a fiveman div isnt really press stopping "exciting" changes....A new country and perhaps a review of the BPS and penalties would have freshened it up a bit....
 

Care_Bears

Bluey .. ... ...Teams :- Care Bears UK
Jul 7, 2007
1,791
598
148
Wiltshire
OH Come on Lads !! Chin up !! couldn`t you see the changes ?? the UK Mills has changed it`s Venue to MY BACK GARDEN here in Wiltshire ... Ha Ha Ha Now that would have been news !!
 

Care_Bears

Bluey .. ... ...Teams :- Care Bears UK
Jul 7, 2007
1,791
598
148
Wiltshire
Yeah that`s a point !! are we to have Coaching from the Snakeside or not ?? as there was talk of it being stopped along with Bounce vests being stopped or was it the Jerseys Not to have any Padding, something like that anyway ??
 

Ash - GI Sportz

GI Sportz
Jun 14, 2006
403
211
83
39
GI Towers
Changes I would like to see in the Millennium Series and cannot see why they can't/shouldn't be adopted.

Split SPL into a PSP champions/challengers style format in order to allow the better teams more game time against better teams, thus better preparing them for the eventual step up to CPL - there is already a growing gap in the quality of teams in the CPL which will only continue to grow if SPL is left as it is. This 16/16 set up can be done with the same number of games as having a 32team division, so its just a scheduling issue to resolve.

Get rid of the roster lock, preferably completely, but if there is still an issue over comedy levels of team swapping, or US pros being rostered in lower divisions for just the last event then perhaps this structure would work:
-Max 2 roster changes between events per team
-Max 5 roster changes per team over the whole season
-No PSP Pro players allowed in SPL2 or lower
-Each player can only transfer once per season
-Sister team rules can remain as is

After each event ask each of the Pro team captains/coaches for their feedback and input regarding the event - not rate the venue 1-10, but questions regarding the quality of the event as a competition
-Surface - was it up to standard?
-Field layout - what were the good and bad aspects
-Reffing - if 10+ teams all single out one ref, or minor infringement that continually cropped up it can be addressed accordingly

This could also be done for each division/field for each event.

I still personally prefer to do away with the 2-games-at-once format too, however I can see the necessity of this as a way to process games faster, especially in the lower divisions where there is not a huge audience to please/confuse. However in the CPL I think it ruins the webcast and makes it difficult to follow the games. Especially on Sunday I feel that all CPL matches should be individual matches in their own right, not just the Semi's and Finals.

For the record I sent this to the Millennium board a week ago and have not even received a 'thank you for your input, we will take it under consideration..' in response...
 
Last edited:

frobinson

#14 Din Eidyn
Oct 25, 2011
445
119
63
Edinburgh
Ash, from the above doc:
"Rounds: Race to 4 points (R:4) (CPL: Race to 5 points (R:5))
Break time: Next round is to be started 2 minutes after finishing the round
before, break time between two games (two new teams take the pit areas) is 5
minutes."

They don't mention the 2 games at once so do you think this is them doing away with it, or MS just being vague as ever?..