NXL Off-Season Rumours, Transfers, Shens, etc......
- Thread starter Tony Harrison
- Start date
*shrug* Swedish rumor site 
I think the APPA id's are 95% certain
minor/major flags 75% certain
4 pods is what Tom Cole and Steve Rabakoff were talking about in Chantilly, so that's probably pretty close to 100%
Majorca...Tom wanted some place warm in March, I hope it's not Spain, the Spanish laws about paintball guns being firearms, were an utter pain in the hole in Barcelona.
I think the APPA id's are 95% certain
minor/major flags 75% certain
4 pods is what Tom Cole and Steve Rabakoff were talking about in Chantilly, so that's probably pretty close to 100%
Majorca...Tom wanted some place warm in March, I hope it's not Spain, the Spanish laws about paintball guns being firearms, were an utter pain in the hole in Barcelona.
I'd say @Spikerz is a reliable source. He been in the game for a while, travels a lot, knows people and sees them at events. Plus, he's one of the very few people who hears stuff and takes the time to post up on here. In fact, at the moment he's one of only two people that do that.
In relation to Euro NXL dates and locations, Rumour Mill says there will be an announcement in the next 10 days. I heard Madrid was one of the locations, so now with Majorca being mentioned it seems like it begins with "Ma". So "Margate" may also be in the mix. Or even "Manchester".
If you are heading to Spain with a paintball marker, check the airline you book allows you to carry markers, and get the necessary clearance from Spanish law enforcement. Lots of Brits flying to Spain for the MS with markers had a hard time because they didn't.
I think the big issue with Spain last time, was that the gun control laws were a complete surprise on the way home - with nothing at all even mentioned by the authorities on the way in. Now that teams can be made aware of the permit requirements in advance it probably won't be too bad to deal with, as long as the permit price isn't too much. Or possibly the NXL can obtain a blanket permit for players attending the event.
Its weird how the NXL run unlimited in the states yet are happy to run with the limited format in Europe. Unification would make life much better.
For Barcelona, well Salou, which I actually thought was nice with good weather and cheap food. Leaving Spain is where the issue came in. Getting there, super simple, grab kit bag and go.
Leaving? Ugh. Barcelona airport has 2 terminals, depending which terminal you left from, meant different rules, as the Spanish police had no clue what they were doing.
I left from Terminal 1, others from Terminal 2.
Terminal 2 had people seal their kit bags with special orange tape, and hand deliver them to the plane, not check them.
They had people seal just their gun cases and check them.
Some police charged a special 'fee' of like 100 euros.
Terminal 1 had people seal the gun cases, but pull the gun cases and put them in separate baggage...not with normal kit bags.
They told me to do that...I ignored them and it was fine.
BA didn't let me fly on my flight, because only BA has a rule that says anything called a 'firearm' you must notify them 72 hours before your flight to inform them. Not for any reason other than they want to know.
So I had to rebook on Germanwings, re-route through Stuttgart and then to London. Which went fine, other than needing to spend 300 euro for the flight. Which was not awesome.
In general Spain was nice, but that was a nightmare.
For the 4 pod thing, the overwhelming opinions from european captains and everyone Tom and Rab talked to was, leave limited paint in some form.
I talked to Tom for 15-20 minutes, and Rab for about 10. He was running around. Tom didn't know but honestly listened when I told him that there are far fewer people in Europe who can afford to play paintball than the US. The economies have recovered, but not as well as the states. So unlimited paint would push out a lot of teams. 4 pods seems to be a pretty good balance. That doubles basically the paint sales so GI is happy, but won't cause too many teams to pack it in, which makes Tom happy.
I'd be fine with Madrid, better flight options than Majorca I also liked the south of France, need a better venue, but the weather was nice (except last year where it chucked down rain). Maybe it'll be Milan and we can have tasty pasta after playing. That would be awesome.
Tom also said he wanted to look at 'cool' venues. like Prague/Amsterdam.
The venues and dates will be released soon (10 days, couple weeks) something like that
Leaving? Ugh. Barcelona airport has 2 terminals, depending which terminal you left from, meant different rules, as the Spanish police had no clue what they were doing.
I left from Terminal 1, others from Terminal 2.
Terminal 2 had people seal their kit bags with special orange tape, and hand deliver them to the plane, not check them.
They had people seal just their gun cases and check them.
Some police charged a special 'fee' of like 100 euros.
Terminal 1 had people seal the gun cases, but pull the gun cases and put them in separate baggage...not with normal kit bags.
They told me to do that...I ignored them and it was fine.
BA didn't let me fly on my flight, because only BA has a rule that says anything called a 'firearm' you must notify them 72 hours before your flight to inform them. Not for any reason other than they want to know.
So I had to rebook on Germanwings, re-route through Stuttgart and then to London. Which went fine, other than needing to spend 300 euro for the flight. Which was not awesome.
In general Spain was nice, but that was a nightmare.
For the 4 pod thing, the overwhelming opinions from european captains and everyone Tom and Rab talked to was, leave limited paint in some form.
I talked to Tom for 15-20 minutes, and Rab for about 10. He was running around. Tom didn't know but honestly listened when I told him that there are far fewer people in Europe who can afford to play paintball than the US. The economies have recovered, but not as well as the states. So unlimited paint would push out a lot of teams. 4 pods seems to be a pretty good balance. That doubles basically the paint sales so GI is happy, but won't cause too many teams to pack it in, which makes Tom happy.
I'd be fine with Madrid, better flight options than Majorca
I also liked the south of France, need a better venue, but the weather was nice (except last year where it chucked down rain). Maybe it'll be Milan and we can have tasty pasta after playing. That would be awesome. Tom also said he wanted to look at 'cool' venues. like Prague/Amsterdam.
The venues and dates will be released soon (10 days, couple weeks) something like that
As I heard it the "sale" of the MS to NXL is not yet a done deal, there are a couple of shareholders reluctant to proceed.