Only 8 prelim gmes in MS

[Piper]

Steve

What a company that lost money, now that is unheard of!

The point is every year they say we are not putting the entrance up etc, then they remove 2 games so in effect the entrances is more expensive. Last year they cut the game time down.

So now the teams will shoot less paint which means the paint suppliers will sell less paint, so who makes the money? The Millennium. Now who loses out? The paying customer!

People are entitled to moan buddy due to the fact that they are the paying customer. The old saying the customer is always right............. Just not in the case of the Millennium!

 

[Liz]

Originally posted by Wadidiz
Would it make any difference to anyone if Millennium lost a shipload of money last year, have started this year with a gigantic negative balance and they don't want to do it again this year?

I didn't think so.

Well having done some (very rough I'll admit) calculations, the only way I can see that they should have lost money last year would be through either failing to get sufficient customers (i.e. teams) last year, or failing to manage their finances properly. Or spending on the stuff that isn't important to the detriment of areas that the paying customers DO feel are important.
Are we talking about the Millennium series as a whole, the ruling body or certain individual events? I can see some of the individual events having made a profit last year, but some having made a big loss. Are the profits and losses shared out between the organisers?
Of course the Millennium board doesn't need to show accounts, but if they feel they need to justify price increases (or lowering the service offered for the same money, which works out the same in the end for the customers), then some transparency would help their case. Until then they must be prepared for accusations of ripping off the players, especially when they use IMHO irrelevant excuses for the reduction in service (e.g. "harmonisation" rather than "we lost money last year and need more teams to make a profit").

I'm sure I've said this before in relation to a different subject but it's just as valid in this case - it's not just what is really going on but also the perception of the customers as to what is going on that affects how people see the situation. The current perception seems to be that the Millennium Series is trying to maximise profit for the minimum outlay. Unfortunately, they have a virtual monopoly when it comes to major league tournaments in Europe as the money just isn't there at the moment for anyone to challenge this monopoly.

 

[fred1]

I can imagine they lost money last year. They put on so many events that attendance was diluted. There just weren't enough teams on some events to cover the bills..... just speculating. But that would be the consequence of an unwise business decision and not something that the customer should take responsibility for.

Anyhow its not the price increase that bothers me its the reduction of games. Sure I'd be willing to throw in a couple extra bucks but I want to play more not less and if I can't play more games then I want to play the same amount. I don't want to take 3 days off my yearly vacation for every Millennium event to go play what could be 8 games if we don't pass the cut.....

 

[Buddha 3]

Originally posted by Wadidiz
Would it make any difference to anyone if Millennium lost a shipload of money last year, have started this year with a gigantic negative balance and they don't want to do it again this year?

I didn't think so.

The big question then becomes: Do they think they will make more money this season? In other words, do they think they will get in more teams? Somehow I doubt it. Cutting 20% off gametime is not popular, so the tournaments themselves had better be uberspectacular if they want to make up for that.
And even then (speaking from a personal POV now), extra flash means little compared to actual gametime. I travel to shoot fools, not to eat fruit or drink water. I can do that at home.

 

[Christian-Malera]

The right way to do it would be to realy deliver this year, make everything better, reffing, venues, etc etc and THEN charge us more/reduse playing time.
The way it is now is that they sell a product, last year series, at a higher price than last year.
The promises that everything is going to get better wont cut it, in the real world of business you deliver a product and then you charge accordingly.

 

[Wadidiz]

Originally posted by Christian-Malera
The right way to do it would be to realy deliver this year, make everything better, reffing, venues, etc etc and THEN charge us more/reduse playing time.

Yeah, but by that time all the funds may run out and NPPL may come in and with what? All the great things they've been delivering and eight preliminary games.

(Opinions expressed here are solely mine and do not represent any organization.)

 

[WKD]

May be im being a tad cynical here "yeah right" but after the promises made last year about events and the MS not delivering and the way they have already treated the teams that were supposedly contracted to play 2 years of x-ball and then shaft them aswell.

Im afraid they arent installing any confidence in them what so ever every year the same promises every year the same short falls. Which of course is then filtered down to us the players and also all the companies that paid for the right to put trade stands up at the events and also supply paint who have to pay more for less every time.

Then we get that the MS didnt make any money last year so they have to make that money back this year unfortunately players have had enough and i can see alot of teams voting with their feet!!

All we get is its gonna be bigger and better this year funny heard that somewhere before and im still waiting too many promises and too many time they have failed to deliver. Id rather save my money and go play a couple of U.S events or smaller european events than support a league that cant make its mind up half the time with what the hell it is doing.

 

[Wadidiz]

Originally posted by WKD
...Then we get that the MS didnt make any money last year...

Just to be sure, I didn't say they lost a lot of money. I said IF they lost a lot of money.

(Opinions expressed here are solely mine and do not represent any organization.)

 

[Buddha 3]

Steve, how will this plan make the MS more money?

The way I see it they cut back on the games, in order to be able to put more teams in an event. But who's to say that happens? If they experience little or no growth, they will have the same amount of money, the same amount of expenses (more, if we are to believe the hype they spread, with the promises of events that will give us orgasms just looking at them) and the only difference is people will have played 20% less games...
If we do see a dramatic increase in teams, and that way guarantee the survival of professionally run paintball in Europe, I'm for it, if that's what it takes. But I doubt the MS will see a dramatic growth in the number of teams. As a matter of fact, many of the lower budget teams that only attend the event that's close to home may well not bother, as the chances of an event being near them will have greatly diminished, given the number of events has dropped to 5. Particularly since the funding required to play a single event abroad can also be used to finance an entire local series attendance.
A brief glance at a few national forums of a few different countries has indicated that many smaller teams are seriously reconsidering their MS attendance this year. And in the end the small boys are the bread and butter of the series.


As for the NPPL moving into Europe, with only 8 games. Well that's true, but they have always been that way, they have delivered what they promised in the past, and the same choices still apply.

Something that needs to be clarified I think is that very few of us (the regular posters on this forum) are against the MS, even though it may sometimes appear that way. In the end is equally important to us for the Millennium to be succesful, as it is to them, albeit for different reasons. Some of us just think that they may be going about it the wrong way.

 

[Nick Brockdorff]

The MS may very well have lost money last year

But the reasons have all been removed prior to this year:

- No more multible formats and costly X-Ball
- No 8 events diluting attendance
- No doubling up on organisation to support 2 formats

Without cutting the number of games, the MS would make lots of money this year.

But - all that is really inconsequential to me.

The ONLY thing that pisses me off, is that the MS thinks we are all idiots.

This "global harmonisation" remark in the PM is so obviously constructed for the purpose of duping people, that it makes every intelligent consumer feel belittled.

Why not just be honest and outright ? - THAT I could respect.

Ncik