It is T minus 9. Close of tourney registration (plus one) for Phoenix Open. Why the plus one? There is a hard close and a soft close. (But don't rely on a soft close just because I suggest there is one. There may not be one for you.) As of 12:20 PM EST there are 92 teams paid (including 6 pro teams) and 154 teams registered. Up from yesterday even with the inclusion of the pro teams. Last year's Phoenix event totaled 123.
Of the remaining 6 spots in the Pro Division word is there are 7 pro teams looking to fill a spot. Rumor is at least 2 of the 7 are seriously feeling the crunch and may struggle to make the commitment.
After yesterday's almost post about the UWL Tom Cole kindly dropped VFTD a note saying they are looking at the prospect of running real 10-man woodsball tournaments. It will be intriguing to see what level of showing-up-and-paying-your-money interest is really out there. Who knows, I might have to start digging around in the closet for the old tiger stripe camos. As long as there's a too old for this but too stupid to know better division.
The USPL has confirmed uncapped semi-auto as the standard for ROF (with no word yet on penalties for illegal guns or any method of determining illegal guns.)
In the mad rush to blame Walker for the NPPL's failure I wonder if anybody, but more specifically, the new owners of the USPL, made any attempt to analyse why the NPPL went bankrupt. And, why, before that, Pure Promotions sold out when the selling was good. Are any of those folks operating under the misapprehension the NPPL was ever a going, self-sustaining concern? That might have been a good place to start.
And for the more astute, if you are wondering if I'm implying anything about the fate of the NPPL and their laughable gun "rules," I'm not. (I have a different theory for that.) But I do wonder if it played a part.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
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I have a question, I just read through that new SPlat XD online magazine and sure enough Shawn Walker is all over it with the new USPL guys. Now if I'm correct Shawn ran the NPPL into the dirt at least the allegations suggest... Now it looks like he may have a finger in the new USPL. Tom Cole has a new 10 man league and promoting it and has ties to the USPL. Chuck H now working for Kingman is the commisioner. Camille who has been a part of the NPPL since 2005 is now with the USPL. Honestly I'm just confused why the same people that ran the NPPL are now running the USPL? I feel like many of the main people have a dual interest in this league, which can lead to the same historic past.
Part of the USPL's problem is that there are very few people who have overseen the organization and production of a major league event. Walker fits that bill whatever else he may or may not have done. Beyond that I've no idea his degree of involvement. Camille is experienced and well-liked and can handle the day-to-day stuff. Tom and Chuck are Kingman employees and Kingman will be/is the largest sponsor of the league.
The two things the USPL has to do is get the teams to sign up and carry off the HB event with as few obvious problems as possible at an acceptable cost. And the reality is the pro team owners are unlikely to be able to pull it off on their own.
One advantage the new guys have is they are focused on running tournaments. The previous NPPL groups had other fish to fry which didn't help.
More on this broad topic in the 'Iron Law of Tourney Logistics' post I'm still working on.
The similarities are there. THis is NPPL2 they just can't call it the nppl anymore. Event the entry fees are almost identical, except for pros.
I would venture to say that the NPPL failed because of failed corporateization (i think i just invented a word), mismanagement and dissention among its employees.
Hopefull the USPL will learn from the NPPL's mistakes and have a more flexible platform to do business with.
I just wish they would lower their prices. So much for lower overhead.
Where does it say Shawn Walker is involved with USPL?
To be honest with you I havent seen his name associated direclty to the new USPL. THe part I didnt get is that he allegedly stole a lot of money, and now he's running his own league and doing photo shoots with the new USPL promoters. Now if the allegations are true or if Walker was part of the demise of the NPPL I would assume the USPL committee would not one ounce of association with this guy. Now again this raises the questions to me did Walker and committee purposely run the NPPL into the ground on purpose knowingly 2009 would bring new opportunites and leagues. I would assume everyone knew once the NPPL was not running a profit all outside investors would sell off.
Again this is all speculation, but from the outside it just seems very intersting to me.
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