Tuesday's Scandalous Sunday poll: Pick a Series

[Red_Merkin]

Hell, we're running Xball here in Quebec, and it's costing a lot of money, to run, but no one is going bankrupt doing it so far...


Still if you want to play 7 minutes, and wait aroudn for an hour then play another 7 minutes... (repeat until it gets dark)

 

[little g]

After having experienced the NPPLs finally, I think that the NPPLs are the only way forward. Well run, big events attracting not only paintballers, but the locals and tourists too. Bring on a European version...

 

[Matski]

PP recognise that this is the entertainment business not specifically paintball. Others fail to see this, or even if they do fail to embrace it. The Xball concept may be good, but the implementors fail to put on the kinda show that the NPPL do and at the end of the day thats what its all about.

NPPL will win, no worries.

 

[Chicago]

Originally posted by matski
PP recognise that this is the entertainment business not specifically paintball. Others fail to see this, or even if they do fail to embrace it. The Xball concept may be good, but the implementors fail to put on the kinda show that the NPPL do and at the end of the day thats what its all about.

The show is what it's all about? Are you an athlete, or are you just looking for an excuse to go somewhere for a weekend to party?

Pure Promotions recognizes that many "paintball players" are not athletes but instead entertainment consumers. They're buying an image more than they're paying an entry fee to compete. You know the type, the "players" running around the bar at 2 AM telling girls they're "paintball atheletes" when their first game starts in 6 hours.

YOU may think paintball is an entertainment business, and as NPPL has proved, you can certainly run a league by appealing to people who view a national-level tournament as entertainment. But there are also people who are not just posers, and actually go to events to compete. Players who go to national-level tournaments to PLAY PAINTBALL are not going to be fooled by spending money hiring cheerleaders instead of referees.

NPPL is ahead because they are better at covering up their lame format and shoddy reffing with a thick layer of glam. PSP is alive because they've at least got a great format for their shoddy reffing. But whoever figures out the reffing problem and the format problem at the same time is going to win.

 

[mikie]

it quite funny that more people want to play xball then the Millennium Series.

 

[Matski]

Chicago

Paintball is an entertainment business, it ultimately depends on this for its growth in the long term....wonder how NXL's TV deal is going? Or will they turn that away as long as they have great refs and a great format....!

Obviously the needs of professional players differ massively from the needs of none-professionals, I totally agree. However, having a great format with great reffing would certainly be the ultimate competiton for pro's everytime-but its the venue that gets the most coverage they will have to go to in the end. Coverage and entertainment, growth for the sport- come hand in hand.

 

[Chicago]

You missed the point. NPPL works because it's the players who ultimately pay the bills through entry fees and buying stuff from the vendors who pay vendor fees. Since there are enough paintball "players' looking to party for the weekend, that's ok.

NXL is going for something different - they want to entertain an AUDIENCE. The audience doesn't care about the kind of entertainment NPPL provides, because they're not there, they're at home in their living room, and they're assuming they're watching a sport. If you put it on TV and your reffing is horrible and the format is boring, it's not going to last.

THAT is the difference. NPPL may be better at entertaining paintball players looking to party for a weekend, but NXL kills them in being a sport. While NPPL may get the short-term glory, if they don't change, it'll be the NXL that has the long term future, because the REAL money comes from a wide audience and out-of-industry sponsorship.

500,000 TV viewers once a week is worth much, much more than 1,500 players five times a year.


i'm not saying one is right and one is wrong, but it's silly to think that the NPPL way is the only way. Some people would rather have carpet on a parking lot next to a stadium, and some people would rather have plush grass in BFE Pennsylvania. Just because you happen to be a carpet fan doesn't mean there are not enough grass people for PSP to be successful.

 

[Matski]

The relative success of either is good for paintball dude, I think we need both to do as well as possible. PSP just don't seem as good at the organisational side of things, which I think hinders them. Like you said earlier the reffing issue is one of the key issues though, once they sort that out it'll be alot better.

 

[Gyroscope]

Originally posted by Chicago
NXL is going for something different - they want to entertain an AUDIENCE.

That is ironic, given locations in the boonies and no apparent effort to pull in spectators. I know you are thinking of the TV audience, but that seems like putting the cart before the horse has evolved from little dog-sized ruminants.

You couldn't even buy videos of the NXL at the events! It seems like an obvious opportunity to practice televising and get some feedback from people who will pay for the research being conducted, but whatever. There is probably a way to film paintball, and that way probably involves Xball, but the best Xball teams were keep hidden for the first two years of the NXL. Maybe they still are; how many people are still trying to find them?

The bit about the carpet on a parking lot is spot on, though... and troubling. This was supposed to be the no-compromise players' league, and we were gonna have grass, and there were gonna be rabbits... and TV. Although the NPPL gets more spectators into see the show, and that may be tied to being in the parking lot, I would be just as happy to be a slowly spreading subculture no one ever heard of if it meant I could play on grass at every tournament. Assurances aside, there is a difference between that fake putting green stuff and the real thing.

 

[Chicago]

Wrong audience.

The NPPL approach is to try and get as many bodies to the events as possible. That's great, if all you want is events with lots of bodies there.

The NXL plan is to not care so much about how many bodies are there right now, and instead spend all of their resources trying to get a workable television league. If they do that, then they'll also get lots of bodies at the events.

Not that I think the way they're executing that plan is any good...