Sam, I have no idea where u get ure info from but I doubt the US entry list would be limited to 6 teams when it is they who hold the majority of aces when it comes to getting this World Series pacakage on TV.
We are a$$hole lucky to be even talkin about parity here.
But I do agree with the idea of divisional Superleague even though it does conflict with the Sergei proposition because in effect it undermines the value of any future franchise alloacations, this would be one of the fundamental departures from the blueprint that I would back as it sits better with the European way of running leagues as against the American locked in model.
Paul, you are right, 'crunch time' is almsot impractically short but this time scale hasn't been selected, it has to a certain extent been imposed upon us due to the success of the NXL.
Sergei's main reason for coming up with this proposal was one of survival.
He believes that inaction on our part would lead eventually (3 to 5 year time span) to a trickle down demise of the Millennium and NPPL circuits as the NXL format takes hold.
On that note, time is of the essence and no doubt we will get things wrong but we need to kick off in the right direction and grasp a few nettles.
This time last year, our inaction cost us dear because we did not see the long dollar even though enough people had their arc lights out showing everybody concerned.
I don't think we have the luxury of time to iron out all the problems we are gonna encounter, you can't apply the normal rules of process to this new league and therefore the process is not going to be robust enough to be able to deflect all the criticism from all the teams etc.
Essentially you are right regarding getting everything in place in 2004, there is no absolute need other than to emulate as colsely as possible the final working model.
All I am doing is expressing my opinions here, I have no idea what the final decisions of the Millennium and NPPL are going to be.
I suppose if i think about all this, then I have to hold my hands up and admit to being impressed with a vision, Sergei's vision, he alone anlaysed the marketplace in terms of tournament and televised paintball and came up with not only what i believe to be a correct risk assesemnt but also came up with a series of answers that can help us.
It is up to us if we choose to act on his analysis and proposal.
This may sound sarcastic but I swear I am not being so but I would much rather listen to (and be enlightened by) somebody who has a proven track record in assessing corporate and business risk than any of the so called experts we have within our ranks when it comes to planning our future.
) but are there 8 US teams that would travel to Europe 3/4 times next year? Only Dynasty, Bushwackers, Strange and Bad Company made the trip over this year. Excluding Effect, 2 GZ teams and Ironmen who aren't gonna be in the Super league for obvious reasons. Would the likes of Naughty Dogs travel? Who else would be in the 8? Rage? Brass Eagle? Jax? Are there even 8 world class US pros outside of the NXL?
