Okay, on this whole reunification thing...

[Missy Q]

lol - I don't speak for the players, nor do I want to. Thats your calling comrade and I apologise if you felt threatened there, but honestly, you have nothing to worry about.

Perhaps I should qualify the 'unification is what the industry and players want' a little better though. I don't think I need to dwell on the industry bit, thats a given, and the fact that the industry seem to be pressuring the leagues to merge (some would call it 'stong-arming') speaks for itself.

I have spoken to many players and captains myself, and I haven't spoken to a single one who wants to play 10 events in the US next year. Most were complaining of the expense, some of burn-out, and yes, some just wanted to play the NPPL and lose x-ball altogether. No, no-one died and made me president, it is my understanding though, based on my observations and research, that the players are equally sick of 2 competing leagues, and would prefer to see all the teams compete in one major recognised league.
Do you disagree?
Do you disagree with this for any other reason than that you feel the lack of competition is bad for players in general, as you already made clear?

As far as your last point goes, everyone (industry) does want one league, but there are companies who would "never" agree to PP steering the ship, and I don't see another option working under the current circumstances, as PP would not hand over the reins, as they believe they are able to do the better job. Fact is, the only reason PP was started is because they did not feel the job was being done right.

.....and I will have to refuse your kind invitation to conga with you on South Beach. Some of the remarks you have made about my weight recently have made me think twice about you Mr Loco, and so I now feel you must work from a 'flowers and compliments' angle if this relationship is to progress towards beach-side rendezvous.
No chocolate though, the heroin plays havov with my appetite...

 

[Nick Brockdorff]

Nick - you still suck. And BTW, you have no idea how many people came up to me in Orlando and thanked me for smacking your danish backside over what you said about refs. I was almost embarrassed....

Whatever dude - you have absolutely no impact on paintball where I am concerned, so while your interest is touching - it is of very little consequence

Nick

 

[Chicago]

Originally posted by Missy Q
I would say you are being uncharacteristicly optimistic about the PSP cutting a big fat cheque to anyone though.

What I think PSP would only have to do and what It hink PSP is likely to do are two entirely different things.

 

[SteveD]

Can I say something about all of that?

No, never mind.....

 

[Gyroscope]

Whichever one of you is speaking for the players, I is your constituent.

I am concerned that if the leagues merge, that either quality will go down, or price will go up. Competition has the effect of demanding more from the contestants, and each is under direct pressure to offer something better than the other guy.

Xball is more fun to play. I know it is expensive.

The NPPL puts on better events.The amenities that PP has provided have raised the bar, without question.

The NPPL/ PP staff seems a little overwhelmed this year. It looks like the number of participants has increased dramatically, while the number of workers has not.

I have played a lot more NPPL events than PSP events, so my information on the PSP is necessarily limited.

I fear that the best of both will not be the parts that come together in a unification. I fear that complexities will make for a sloppy collision of a joining.

 

[Baca Loco]

Originally posted by Missy Q
Perhaps I should qualify the 'unification is what the industry and players want' a little better though. I don't think I need to dwell on the industry bit, thats a given, and the fact that the industry seem to be pressuring the leagues to merge (some would call it 'stong-arming') speaks for itself.

I have spoken to many players and captains myself, and I haven't spoken to a single one who wants to play 10 events in the US next year. Most were complaining of the expense, some of burn-out, and yes, some just wanted to play the NPPL and lose x-ball altogether. No, no-one died and made me president, it is my understanding though, based on my observations and research, that the players are equally sick of 2 competing leagues, and would prefer to see all the teams compete in one major recognised league.
1--Do you disagree?
Do you disagree with this for any other reason than that you feel the lack of competition is bad for players in general, as you already made clear?

2--As far as your last point goes, everyone (industry) does want one league, but there are companies who would "never" agree to PP steering the ship, and I don't see another option working under the current circumstances, as PP would not hand over the reins, as they believe they are able to do the better job. Fact is, the only reason PP was started is because they did not feel the job was being done right.

3--.....and I will have to refuse your kind invitation to conga with you on South Beach. Some of the remarks you have made about my weight recently have made me think twice about you Mr Loco, and so I now feel you must work from a 'flowers and compliments' angle if this relationship is to progress towards beach-side rendezvous.
No chocolate though, the heroin plays havov with my appetite...

1--How can I? I imagine there are some players who feel that way as I have to assume there are others who don't. The real question is, if the players were compelled to choose, what kind of Paintball do they want to play? With two leagues they get to choose and as for the players and teams that don't want to play both why do they have to--unless they are primarily Pros and either feel they have to or are directed to by their sponsors?
2--Well, apparently that desire is conditional.
3--My bad, Missy. Should have been clearer. I was simply trying to determine the likelihood of seismic activity during the event this weekend.

 

[Furby]

Originally posted by SteveD
Can I say something about all of that?

No, never mind.....

Oh, go ahead....you know you want to...

 

[SteveD]

Gyro,

in the best of all possible worlds, we would take the most well-run operation, add the best presentation available and then find out from the rest of the world (not our internal constituency, but the populous we are trying to appeal to) which format(s) THEY prefer.

As I understand it, the objectives are:

1. lower costs for national events (to everyone)
2. up attendance by providing fewer overall events/fewer scheduling conflicts
3. support the existing hierarchy of teams
5&6 make all of the above appealing to the outside world
with a format players will play and spectators will watch

a 'unified' series could probably get away with hosting 6 to 8 events (there are arguably ten right now, leaving Millennium out for the moment). 6 is 4 less than ten (check me on the math Pete), 8 is 2 less than ten, so whichever floats the boat. 7 might be optimal (hmmmm, 7...) giving us 5 point something weeks between events of a 9 month season.
costs would go to roughly 70 percent of what they are now - not a bad savings.

attendance will be upped across the board - tho I suspect in NPPL's case this is not as big a need, since they fill to their field/game capacity already. It would let them fill two more events...

support the existing hierarchy - hmmm - I really think that mergers and expansions are a bad idea here. Call me biased, but I don't think the number of pro teams should expand beyond 18 for now.

Format. Its all about the benjamins. If you have an overky expensive 'top' format, you'll never get enough teams at the lower levels to support upward mobility. How about 6 man Genesis format 'lite'? (you don't play multiple score version until the sem-finals)

You know, it strikes me that this is a perfect opportunity to establish a 'western conference' and an 'eastern conference', with a meeting in the middle to decide the champs. Might as well throw in a 'European Conference' and rotate the BIG EVENT between NA and EU. Then we can switch every other year between the format played in the championships.

Hell, why not determine the optimal area/population to support a 'conference' (self-sustaining in terms of attendance/budget) make up as many as you need and then run regional stuff all season long until the playoffs?

Na. Baseball has already done it...

 

[Ty C.]

Why dont they just merge. Have 3 or 4 7 man tournaments, and 3 or 4 xball tournaments. I agree with Steve the ideal number is 6 or 7. Run by the NPPL which i think we all agree is better run. This would cut down the number of tournaments we have to travel to and cuts down a lot of the costs that sponsors have. Richmond doesnt have to change his Xball brand paint. The diehard xball fans still get to play it and the same with the 7 man teams. If the NPPL has the ESPN deal we are hearing about then the masses will be allowed to chose. Look at motorcross in the X-Games. They have four different formats for it, the high jump, best trick, their supercross hybrid, and freestyle. I think this is great because kids may watch the high jump and not be interested in that but if they watch the supercross, they might like that. If this is all run by one company and it appeals to the masses you can still get the outside sponsors everyone is looking for. I dont think the outside sponsors have a problem with the different formats, i see the problem being with the different leagues.

 

[Chicago]

DEfine "better run"?

NPPL is much better run on the outward face - better PR, better party, better presentation to the spectator. But PSP is ... well, better un internally may not be the best way of putting it, but you can see a better concept at least. Better format, better ID system, and it loks like they're working on a better way of doing reffing.

Whoever commented on NPPL being understaffed this year - NPPLs staff looks like an army compared to PSP's staff. Maybe PSP just needs to invest in a few more people to make their concepts work out.