NXL Implosion !!

[Robbo]

whow Richard

Originally posted by repairman
I am all for it. Let all the teams stay over there and play as much
X-ball as they like. I know however that they will all end up playing in other leagues because they are all bored as hell.
Which league do you think will make it to TV first? OR do think that the NPPL makes it before 2005?
Repairman

I'm with Rodders on this one as I have talked to quite a few X-Ballers on the subject, and if it is becoming boring for the player, I don't need to underline any corresponding effect for the spectator.

As for who gets TV first ?
Initially, I thought this was the most critical of all questions but after talking to some well-informed people Stateside, it would seem that if one network gets hold of a successful format, then the others ain't too far behind.
Therefore just because one particular format gets TV doesn't preclude the other, in fact it almost guarantees it.

And the most critical of questions is now, which series is gonna make the most TV impact ?
Now if the TV cameras had turned up to film the World Cup as against Huntingdon or NPPL Vegas, there is no contest, and here I am talking about event based coverage rather than sport based.

So, if TV wants to cover events like they do in say, skateboarding or snowboarding etc, then the NPPL / PSP will clean up.

Now if the format is such that it inevitably leads to predictability in play, and you are basing a TV series around a league playing said format, then this just plays right into the hands of any TV company who wish to cover paintball from an 'event' angle.


It's all up in the air at the moment with many hands to be played, one of which is being played right now and it remains to be seen, just how this recent development will unfold.......
And I'm not even sure whether or not Rodders is aware of it yet
Should be fun

 

[NulodPBall]

x-ball

Originally posted by repairman
Hmmm............... These guys are getting run down by the likes of the Hostile Kids at their own format....they are actually thinking about changing the format and not allowing the coaches to speak from the sideline. Hmm regular 5-man anyone...We are at the same cross road that Motorcross was at many years ago, and where are they at now?

===
Rodney: Hmmm...you mean that someone's noticed that the teams that tend to have people yelling actual useful information at the players tend to win more? Like: "Arnold! Center bunker and wrap around to the center 50, NOW!" or "LJ! LJ! LJ! Shoot the tape NOW!"(as two players try to bunker him). The only thing is that the unofficial coaches need water and throat lozenges brought out to them I think I only lasted about a half hour.
I agree...paintball is a "fringe" sport trying to become Major League and NO-ONE outside the world of paintball knows who any of the players are. Yes, NXL is very farsighted but as said before, TV is the key and really, really needs to get started THIS year before everything falls apart. As far as "dumbing down" Goose assumes that there IS a TV Fan Base. The fans in the Major Leagues already have loyalties and the scabs were trying to replace those existing loyalties. Paintball is starting from Ground Zero (no pun intended) and just needs to start showing up on TV more so that people will start taking an interest in the sport and following what's going on, and maybe they'll even learn a few team names...I STILL get the question "Paintball? What's that?" as late as last week...how can you claim a Fan Base for a game that doesn't even exist for many people in the US? As I said, paintball just needs more coverage to get the ball rolling so beer guzzling wannabees in their neighborhood bars in West Allis, Wisconsin can start arguing about what Rodney should've done when he was going 1-on-4 in the last seconds of a critical game in the playoffs..
Hostile Kids? They STILL look the same as when I first saw them hanging out at Tombstone, looking sad 'cause their moms were late in picking them up...Brian needs to get them to step up to the Big Boys They were bagging on me for carrying too much paint at the Pan Am and using the same harness since 1999 (Hey, Rose still has her guy sew it back up for free) when they saw me get tatooed 'cause I thought the Ref (DJ on the Rocket Field) kept motioning me to to backup at the start, even though I was well back in the "box"...he just wanted me to drop my barrel tip, which I always wait 'til the 5 second mark to do...Oh well, I digress

Ray "Beer Guzzler" N.

 

[raehl]

What I wanna know is...

Is why people think paintball on TV is going to get people who don't know anything about paintball to understand paintball. I see the argument a lot that if we get on TV, then we'll find an audience.

Wrong.

Paintball players are the audience. Those will be 95% of the people watching it. Just like Golf. We need to stop trying to think about making paintball on TV appeal to the general public and make sure it appeals to PAINTBALLERS first. Those are the people who are going to watch it.

The idea that we need to get paintball on TV to get more people into paintball is backwards. We need to get more people into paintball so there are people to tune in if/when paintball makes it to TV. TV doesn't want to educate its viewers about a sport and its players; it wants to broadcast something that people will tune in to watch.

- Chris

 

[Richard Kirke (DUPS Rocket) UK]

Not quite true

As anyone in the UK who watched (a few years ago now) Kubadi (sp) on Channel 4 shows, or anybody who watched the Channel 5 coverage of the Superbowl last year; these sought to tell us all how the game was played and what was going on as well as entertaining us.

It is possible to educate us as the program goes on for example I rememeber having the complexaties of netball explained to me once and didn't curling get explained endlessly while the brits (well scotts) were winning at the olympics?

Sure, paintball will never be the NFL, but a show can show the sport as well as teach is viewers as it's inention.

Richard

 

[Robbo]

What I wanna know is...

Originally posted by raehl
Is why people think paintball on TV is going to get people who don't know anything about paintball to understand paintball. I see the argument a lot that if we get on TV, then we'll find an audience.
Wrong.
Paintball players are the audience. Those will be 95% of the people watching it. Just like Golf. We need to stop trying to think about making paintball on TV appeal to the general public and make sure it appeals to PAINTBALLERS first. Those are the people who are going to watch it.
The idea that we need to get paintball on TV to get more people into paintball is backwards. We need to get more people into paintball so there are people to tune in if/when paintball makes it to TV. TV doesn't want to educate its viewers about a sport and its players; it wants to broadcast something that people will tune in to watch.
- Chris

And it's exactly that demographic that is fuelling the present interest by TV companies.......

 

[NulodPBall]

What I wanna know is...

Originally posted by raehl
...The idea that we need to get paintball on TV to get more people into paintball is backwards. We need to get more people into paintball so there are people to tune in if/when paintball makes it to TV. TV doesn't want to educate its viewers about a sport and its players; it wants to broadcast something that people will tune in to watch...

===
Chris: I'm assuming you're coming from an Education background...it shows What you want is fine and good for the LONG run, but I believe it will take years to happen. We are looking for the Here and NOW. I'm saying, get paintball noticed more by mainstream America and what both you and I want will happen faster. If I were to extend out what you're saying to other successful televised sports, then most of the CART fans run around in tiny, tiny cockpits at 200 mph, most of the people who watch guys doing a Triple Jump actually know how to do a Triple Jump, and the million or so people that watch the LA Marathon actually own running shoes. They don't...and yes, most of the people that watch Baseball, Football, Soccer, and Hockey on TV have played that sport at one time in their life, at some level but as I pointed out, those sports were already extremely popular because everyone had been exposed to those sports at some time in their lives and they were already considered "Major" before they got TV coverage, but things accelerated once they did get TV coverage. Paintball is no-where near as huge as the Major sports, it just passed Snowboarding last year or so in terms of dollars spent if I remember correctly...and look at where Snowboarding is...pretty much everyone in the US, North America, and Western Europe knows what snowboarding is (You don't hear "What? Ping Pong??") but do you get coverage of Snowboarding events regularly on any of the Major, free TV networks? Not unless it's heavily sponsored by someone outside the Snowboarding industry. Why? By definition is still a "Fringe" sport that's participated in by millions but it does get TV coverage so everyone knows what it is ("Taste Life, Eat Death" Chinese Downhill!). Paintball is also a Fringe sport, but no-one knows what it is 'cause they're not exposed to it on TV, except in drips and dribbles through brief mentions on TV shows and news reports, and usually in a negative light. Remember, we're on the SAME level as Snowboarding, not the NFL, yet people still don't know what paintball is!!! I'm repeating for emphasis that I believe that paintball is suffering from underexposure...and the country that we are based in basically hates things that are perceived as Warlike, or things that have triggers (no French jokes please) and for the few mainstream people that know about paintball we appear to be warlike and we do have triggers. I wish your position was true for the near future...I really do, but I see what you want happening at least 5 years in the future...unless something drastic happens to expose people to the sport aspect of paintball.

Rodney: I heard that someone made the mistake of challenging a Shoot/Ultimate fighter on Sunday when he asked them to not push on his chest anymore...some people just don't know when politeness pays


Ray "Why are his feet in the air?" N.

 

[raehl]

Yes, but...

There's a difference between watching the olympics every 2 years and being a regular fan of the sport. We're not the olympics, and we don't get the benefit of a bi-annual marketing blitz. I also don't think it's fair to compare us to sports like basketball or even figure skating where an audience definitely finds something appealing in watching it on TV until we prove that we're a sport that's inherently appealing on TV as opposed to a sport like Golf that's mainly appealing to players.

Yes, we need to get more peple involved in the sport so we have an audience, but throwing paintball on TV isn't going to do that the way some would lke to think it would. We don't need inflatable bunkers on TV, we need better marketing to get more people to show up at their local field and play in the woods, or maybe on an inflatable field if that happens to be where they end up. That, right there, is the difference between someone who surfs straight by paintball and someone who stops to check out the show.

And another thing I think people are missing is TV is only a PIECE of the puzzle. I have a couple of the sponsorship proposals from a few US Winter Olypmic athletes/teams from back in 2002 here. Yes, the TV coverage is part of it, but a good deal of the proposals cover exposure through the team/athletes particular sport's fan base in addition to TV coverage, especially for some of the teams/atheltes that don't get a lot of TV team - then it's all about participants in their sport, magazines that cover their sport that will cover them and the circulation of those magazines, etc.

I wouldn't say I come from an educational background (unless you mean engineering education.) I come from the "I've sat down and talked about paintball with execs of major corporations, including TV" background. The NXL and S7 arn't the only leagues in paintball trying to nail down a TV deal or major out-of-industry sponsorships ya know.

The TV people I've talked to could care less about the format - the format can be changed when you decide the sport is right for TV. They just want to know if there's a market advertisers will pay for. Where else is the TV event going to be covered? What are the opportunities for promotional tie-ins? How likely is the show/event to grow in audience over the next 5-10 years? Unlike the format, whether or not there is a viewer base isn't something easily changed by TV Executive decision.

It's also worth noting that paintball ALREADY IS on TV on a regular basis, at least state-side - just not as pure competition, but as part of sitcoms/reality shows instead. We'd make a bigger impact getting a paintball segment of Fear Factor than having a 9 AM on saturday show dedicated to paintball.


- Chris

 

[Richard Kirke (DUPS Rocket) UK]

Yes, but...

Originally posted by raehl
Yes, we need to get more peple involved in the sport so we have an audience, but throwing paintball on TV isn't going to do that the way some would lke to think it would. We don't need inflatable bunkers on TV, we need better marketing to get more people to show up at their local field and play in the woods, or maybe on an inflatable field if that happens to be where they end up.

TV covourage does directly result in more people playing paintball. It reminds people that paintball exists and that they can play it. Any TV coverage (that shows paintball in a positive light) serves as an advert for the sport.

Case in point: X-Fire the scenari-based paintball game-show type thingy on Channel 4 here in the UK; when it first was broadcast there were a lot of reports on this very board about how site owners were getting people who'd watched the show ringing them up wanting to 'ball.

Richard