Re: The cost difference...
Originally posted by Buddha 3
Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot I'm dealing with someone who's been there, and done that, and who singlehandedly runs the most succesful league in the world. 
Define most successful. The NCPA has 3500 members, the largest paintball organization aside from SPPLAT. We grow at about 200% per year, despite appealing to teams who meet a very limitting set of eligibility requirements. Our events cost, per player, 1/3 or less than that of any other national circuit. I'm pretty sure we run more events annually than any other league, although they are admittedly much smaller. We have a much more involved player group, we have a much better level of sportsmanship, and we have a significant impact on promoting the sport outside of the industry. We even taught our players to pick up their own garbage so we don't have to pay someone else to do it.
Not saying I did this all singlehandedly by any means, but I'm no slouch either. I've been very involved in building something from not much when there were a lot of people who told us we could never be successful doing things the way we do them, including a lot of the "experts". So forgive me if a bunch of "paintball experts" tell me I'm wrong and I don't believe them - groups of "paintball experts" have a poor track record with me.
If you think I'm a little contemptious of a lot of player bitching - you're right, I am. I see a lot of the same problems you guys do, but I'm willing to do something about it, and I've tried to implement a lot of the changes players say they want, so I know first hand why those changes are not as easy as people think they are.
What have you guys done to cause change? Do you guys *REALLY* want change? Get off your asses and make it happen.
We don't have a national college paintball league because we sat around and complained that there wasn't one. We have one because the players got together and decided we were going to have one. We ran some events, and we organized our own national championships. They were small. The next year, we ran a few more events and upped our attendence a bit. The year after that, we ran a few more events and upped our attendence a lot. I rspect myself and I respect our players because we put in the work to get the change we want. Our guys understand that if we want something, we're going to have to work to get it. I don't have a whole lot of respect for people who complain that other people should make the change they want happen for them, and do it for free on top of that.
Player: "You need to spend your money to give me what I want, and you'll get nothing from me for it."
Promoter: "Uhm, wha?"
10 years ago a buncha captains who were pissed off at how things were going got together and started NPPL. You want change? Go talk to the other people who have their hands on the wallets of the player, who feel the same way you do, and are willing to put their time and money into making what you want to happen happen. Set up a real player's organization, incorporated, with bylaws, a Board of Directors, and elections - the organization NPPL wishes it was. Go run some events. Maybe the first year you'll only have 10 teams and **** prizes. But if you do it right, the next year you'll have 20 teams. And the next year you'll have 40. And then 80. And if you don't make the mistake NPPL did and pay someone else to do it and instead make sure you own the league that you build and can hire and fire the people working for the league at will, you'll have the control over your league to make what you want to happen happen.
We've done it. We control every aspect of our league and we can change whatever we want without having to negotiate with anyone else. We have done things right that nobody else in the history of paintball has managed to pull off, and yeah, I think that means something. We don't have to complain about what we get for our money because we control how every cent of it is spent.
Do you know why Jerry and Chuck et. al. get to make all the decisions why you guys can only bitch on web boards?
Because they do the work and you don't. Customers do not get to dictate what they get. They only get to choose what they'll buy.
My level of contempt for the shortcomings of our naitonal league(s) is exceeded only by my contempt for the complete lack of effort most players in that league seem willing to expend to insure change.
Even something so simple as getting 20 teams to form a corporation, paying all your entry fees to that corporation, and having that corporation withhold entry fees from the promoter if the promoter does not live up to contractual obligations would be a huge step in the right direction. You want to send a message to the promoters? Send them one big check for the registration of 20-40 teams from "Team Association X".
- Chris
