NPPL "discovers" new revenue source

[Baca Loco]

Straight from the NPPL website. Let's see, regarding VIP tickets, Tampa was 5 deep in the VIP section and unless you were prepared to fight for your spot your chances of seeing much were nearly nonexistent. Afterwards, there was much made of peeps "sneaking" into VIP on borrowed passes. And just where did the "borrowed" passes come from? Why it must'a been the real VIPs, right? So the response? Turn the circus into another revenue source.

As to Reserved seating. let's see. Tourney starts with 1200 plus players. By Sunday most of them are spectators. Want to see the rest of the event center court? Pay some more. The NPPL offers insufficent seating for the events competitors alone--to say nothing of so-called outside spectators--ands since there's a limit we'll see if they'll pay some more.

Good thing the NPPL is the league of the players and for the players otherwise I might start wondering just where the players fit into this equation.

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Fancy Treating Yourself and a Friend to an NPPL Super 7 VIP Pass ??!!

For the 1st time we are making available those elusive VIP tickets that everyone wants to lay their hands on. This VIP pass grants you access into the VIP Enclosure overlooking Center Court, complimentary food and drinks and the chance to mix with the industry’s big wigs and the usual celebrities.

These tickets are strictly limited in number.

Pricing for the VIP tickets are :

Fri-Sat Daily $40
Member $35
Sun Daily $45
Member $40
3-Day Pass 3 Day $100
Member $90

Again tickets are available online at ticketmaster or from the ticket office on site.

For the VIP events the standard Ticketmaster online service charge will apply, $7.75. There is no service charge at the ticket office on site.

Latest: June 30th, 2004
Reserved Grandstand Seating for the Sunday Finals
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NPPL and Pure Promotions have received numerous requests from spectators and players alike wanting to pre-book reserved seating in the bleachers for Sunday Finals. We are pleased to announce that we have teamed up with Ticket Master and reserved seats are available now from the Ticket Master web site.

Check out http://www.ticketmaster.com/search?keyword=NPPL.

Pricing for all day Sunday is :
Adult $10 Child<12
$5 Member
$5 Members

There is a service charge on Sunday’s general admission event of $1.75 if tickets are purchased online. The Ticket Master ticket office at Invesco Field will be open throughout the event.There is no service charge payable at the ticket office.

Please note that if all seats are not reserved then the remainder will be made available on a first come first served basis.
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[Jester1]

Well said!

I'm willing to bet that they'll sell most if not all of the seats, just because people know there isn't a place to sit except the main stands. This of course leads to the question, "Where will all the potential spectators from outside the player audience sit?"

And how many of those non-players would be willing to shell out $10 to watch something they've never seen? Keep it free and we'll get some interest. Charge them and they'll not even show up.

As for the VIP passes, sure hope they have a better system, like numbered ID passes assigned to specific people. I know Kinkos was busy in Tampa with everyone making VIP passes for themselves. Amazing what color laser copiers can do these days!

 

[Baca Loco]

The first official response. Please note there will be NO FREE seating if they manage to sell all the spots. Nor is any mention made of the total number available in either VIP or grandstands--just that it is limited.

Good to know the seating money will go to a good cause, more seating--which I imagine will also be charged for in which case they can have even more seating for the following event and then more...

I wonder where they're putting this extra seating? An upper deck for the grandstands? And, hey, does that mean the VIP ticket money is going for extra beer and chips? Remind me again what you ID money was supposed to be for?
______________________________________
Unsold seats are first-come/first-serve. By purchasing a ticket either through Ticket Master or at the event, you will have a reserved seat. This guarantees that you will have a spot in the grandstands. Come Sunday, remaining seats will be available FREE OF CHARGE. Again, this is only as long as there are seats available. So the only way to ensure you will have a place to sit in the grandstands is to purchase a ticket... otherwise you can wait and see if there are still spots open on Sunday so that you can watch for free.

The money is going toward putting more seating up at the events... which I know even my friends and family will be very pleased about.

For more information, please contact me via email or by calling the office.

Congratulations to the teams who made it in for Denver's Registration and I'll see you in 2 weeks!

All the best,

Camille Baker
Director of Marketing
National Professional Paintball League
www.nppl.tv
(714) 536-9050 Phone
(714) 536-0676 Fax

The NPPL and Pure Promotions would like to thank our Platinum Sponsors:
JT, Brass Eagle, Viewloader, Raven, Kingman, WDP, Angel, Chronic, ZAP, System X, Steel Balls, Planet Eclipse, National Paintball Supply, Empire
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[knobbs]

So everyone wants it to become a 'real sport', but as soon as a 'real sport' move is made (selling tickets for seats) everyone's gonna bitch.

 

[Buddha 3]

I agree with your observation knobbs, but I think Baca is one of the few people that flips the bird at this sport thing...

 

[Baca Loco]

Remove your head from the clouds for a sec, Knobbs, and look at reality.
Everybody is busy jumping up and down over the notion of PB the Sport and TV--and you can count me in on that one too, but . . .

Who does the NPPL expect to pay for this seating? The players, their friends, etc. So if peeps are dumb enough to do that what does it prove other than there's more money to be extracted from the players. Big deal.

Nor has the NPPL identified how many reserved seats are available or how they plan on apportioning bleacher space. Does every butt get 18 inches or 15 inches or 12 or 10? The same applies to the VIP tickets; how many is a limited amount of tickets? And why won't they be specific?

And if buying your seat is just the next normal step on the road to Sport success how come they don't just say so? Why is the rationale extra money to provide more future seating?

Once you can offer satisfactory answers to those questions please tell me just how taking more money from the players advances the notion of PB as Sport?

Then for the big question; Just what does the NPPL notion of PB as Sport entail? What does it mean and what will it do for the players who are at present helping support it?

It's one thing to favor a particular result; it's another thing altogether to blindly follow.

 

[Steve Hancock]

I think it sounds a bit steep, but i am (still) a student, and feel that more than a pound fifty a pint is a bit much, so i supose its all relative.

One thing that i thought of - isn't the Super7's being run at a loss? Making any crys of profiteering are a bit unfounded.

 

[Richard Kirke (DUPS Rocket) UK]

Originally posted by Baca Loco
Once you can offer satisfactory answers to those questions please tell me just how taking more money from the players advances the notion of PB as Sport?

Then for the big question; Just what does the NPPL notion of PB as Sport entail? What does it mean and what will it do for the players who are at present helping support it?

Bacca, these are increadibly good questions and, I hope somebody believes me here, ones I've been asking for a while.

I'd love to hear some answers

Richard

 

[Baca Loco]

Hancock--who cares about profiteering? That's like sandbagging, far as I'm concerned. A non-issue. If PP can get the players to pay a Breathing Surcharge more power to them. The issue is however symptomatic of larger questions the players ought to be asking. At least in my opinion. Not because there is anything wrong but simply because every internationally competitive player's fate is held by 1 of 3 powers yet there isn't 1 player in 10 who can offer up anything beyond slogans and platitudes to explain where big time PB is going. Course if everyone is happy to keep on dishing out their cash on nothing but blind faith and "free" water...

Kirke--Word of Advice: Do not hold breath while waiting.

 

[knobbs]

Originally posted by Baca Loco
Who does the NPPL expect to pay for this seating? The players, their friends, etc. So if peeps are dumb enough to do that what does it prove other than there's more money to be extracted from the players. Big deal.

...

Originally posted by Baca Loco
It's one thing to favor a particular result; it's another thing altogether to blindly follow.

Kinda like those IDs I got bashed for complaining about not receiving, eh? Which, I might point add, was ONLY paid for by players and crew, and had no chance of getting income from the non-playing community.

I can't answer how the NPPL is defining seats or how many they ar giving out, I've got nothing to do with it. The reason they have to give rationale about buying further seating is because people do just this--"Where is that money going?" The answer is it is being reinvested--In seating to make the NPPL more spectator friendly, which the players apparently want.

The point isn't that the NPPL is charging for seats to pretend to be a real sport, but they are charging for seats because the demand is there and it is a sign that this is becoming something more than just paintballers watching. I can't tell you how many people I talked to in the stands at HB that had never seen paintball before--which is bringing paintball to the masses, which apparently everyone wants but then bitch about spending 5 bucks to do.