UAPl/WPL

[Crusher]

Well, I have been watching the UAPL and its into its second round of conference games.

Arena ball, 3 man and conerences of west, east and central. A 50 by 100 field fixed layout and the teams play a best of 7 match.

I guess this time around the players have got used to the format and I personally think its a hot TV formatted paintball breakthrough! I think the filming has been great and the play superb. I had some people round for a few beers and we watched it. They had never seen paintball in this format and they were hooked. All they want to do is play! I think it is the best thing for breaking Pball onto the TV....so far.

The espn coverage from Florida last year is due on soon. It will be interesting to compare. 7 man paintball filmed for TV or an obvious format made for TV (UAPL).

Anyone else caught it?

 

[Chicago]

The first few shows were HORRIBLE. So bad I couldn't watch the full hour.

I heard this weekend's was better (I'm still TIVOing them) so I watched it and I have to say it's MUCH improved. The camera angles are a lot better, and in most games you can actually follow what is going on. I do think the format may be a little TOO fast, and I'd like to see a different field layout at some point, and there still needs to be some work on the non-game commentary and the graphics package, but all-in-all it beats anything we've seen out of NPPL or NXL. The during-game commentary is pretty good, finally something beyond the "ghetto buzzword" commentary we usually get in paintball. Very nice that it sounds like sports commentary instead of a rapper faceoff.

I think the next step is a little more olympics-style player stories. They do seem to be making a point of mentioning specific players though.

 

[dr.strangelove]

I live in Las Vegas about 2 minutes from where it's being filmed, so I've been able to go watch them live. The live production the first time I went was HORRIBLE. Started an hour late and lasted an hour too long and was poorly organized at best, but the last couple weeks it's been better and more put together (though still a little tedious). The camera angles in the first few episodes were terrible, but the filming has improved exponentially, and the next two TV episodes are going to be even better (I seen them live, and they were using 14, yes 14 cameras to cover everything). The TV production is by far the best I've seen from any league, with the NPPL's show last season on Fox Sports second, the PSP infomercial world cup on OLN at dead last, and no comment able to be offered on NXL since it's never been on TV (at least not to my knowledge, or on any channel that my cable or satellite provider has carried in the last 4 years). Three man wasn't a popular idea when it was first announced that it would be on TV on these forums, but I think it's a much more spectator-friendly format than anything else running. The field is small and easy to cover (for filming, and for referees, so the calls are generally made faster and more accurately), there's a small number of players, so the action is easier to follow, the games are quick (three minute max. time limit), the action is fast, and it's a lot of fun to watch. For those who might not know, the UAPL was spawned by the creators of Ultimate Madness. Nifty little tidbit. The new season begins in September, if you want to keep seeing paintball on TV, tune in, because this is the best chance we've had for a long-term, regular TV spot.

 

[dr.strangelove]

Just for kicks, here's some pics of the field:

Seems a lot bigger on TV, it's pretty up close and personal.

 

[Chicago]

NXL was on ESPN2 December 2004. It was... boring and confusing.

3 man is an ok format, I Think, but just the best filming effort so far so you think it's the format when it's really just that the filming efforts of the other formats have been bad. 3-mam may be > 7-man, but I still hold out hope for a good XBall production.