Hmm
I have to take issue with some of the things you write:
1)
Decent Series where pros play pros in Europe - I'm all for it... if that league holds more than a handfull Euro teams.
2)
As for US teams cherry picking from the Euro teams - I don't really see that happening.... They would have done that a long time ago if they were interested - any Euro player would jump at the chance to play with a US Pro team.
Problem is that to justify the extra expenses (if the player keeps living in Europe) or the extra hassle (if you need to find him a job, a place to live, etc.)...... a Euro player has to be BETTER than any US player the team can find, which is very rare indeed.... and the whole reason only a handfull of Europeans have even been fulltime rostered members of US Pro teams. - When I played there, I boarded 62 different airplanes in a season - and that is QUITE a bill to pick up for any team... no matter who the player is.
So, the point is... we don't lack talent on Euro Pro teams.... we're just not MORE talented than the US players - and when you add "budget" to the mix (which translates into more practice and more events), the US teams win out at more or less every event.
You give me the same budget any of the top 5-6 US Pro teams has, and I'll easily build a European contender that finishes in the top 5 every time, in under a year!
3)
Diminishing talent pool? - Hmm - as said I don't think it will happen, but even if it did, there is not a damn thing a Euro Pro team can do about it, as long as their US counterparts have budgets that are 5-10 times as big.
4)
Team value. - *COUGH* - no offence...... but being an employee of WDP - and not disclosing it when you write about $ values on NPPL franchises, I find in poor taste. - Quite obviously it is in the best interest of the organisation you belong to (yeah yeah - bla bla bla - "Pure Promotions is not WDP" - bla bla bla
), to give people the impression that a "franchise" in the NPPL is worth a lot - because that lends value to the league and the whole concept of it..... but I think you should refrain from writing stuff like that when using your incognito alter ego.
Your values MAY or MAY NOT be right.... I have no clue what you base those numbers on... I'm just saying it seems odd that a guy in your position would write them - but then do so anonymously.
5)
As for the Russians - they have never ever picked up a single seasoned Pro player for the team - and that is the reason they don't win everything - yet.
Their ONE drawback is that their players are comperatively inexperienced in event play.... before joining the NXL, their russian players played 5-6 events outside Russia per year - no more.
And the few none-russians they picked up, were (when they picked them) inexperienced talented kids.
If you moved Dynasty to Moscow, and put them through the RL regime for 6 months, you would have a team that nobody could beat - in any format - ever.
Point is, that nobody should dispute the talent in the RL roster... but experience is just as important a factor in paintball, because gunfights are just as often won with brains/experience as with pure skill.... And experience is where they are still lacking - although they are evidently catching up very fast.
For the same reason, were they to play the NPPL, they would struggle a little more than they do in the NXL (we'll - they don't struggle there at all
) - because X-Ball gives them much better opportunity to bring their amazing coaching staff to bear and enhances their ability to do set plays.
Nick
