Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Rumor du Jour: PB Makers Push Merger

This was the perfect time to drag out this hoary old chestnut 'cus otherwise I had nothing. (Title is link to ProPaintball story. Thanks, guys!) This particular rumor is fast becoming a tourney paintball tradition, like watching the annual broadcast of 'A Christmas Story' or 'It's a Wonderful Life' during the holidays. Oddly, it seems the less likely it is to be true the more credence it gets from the riff-raff. (That would be you people.) The first couple of times the rumor made the rounds it was both quasi-true and quasi-believable. You see, once upon a time (around the time the talk of NPPL 3.0 rising Phoenix-like from the ashes of Pacific Paintball's bankruptcy began to entice a number of pro teams) the paint giants very likely could have enforced a one national league only policy. They had grumbled about it before but nothing ever came of it because they (the paint giants) were also locked in competition amongst themselves and none of them trusted the others enough to believe any bargain made would hold. (Probably because they were all trying to figure out to gain an advantage in the process.)
When this rumor first appeared the paint giants also had something they don't have anymore. Leverage. Okay, they have some but nothing like what they once had because their leverage was predicated on cash money. You see, the price of doing business has changed. Back in the (hay)day the paint giants took loses to be showcased at the biggest events and considered it part of the cost of doing business. Not so much anymore. Not that they're making money at the big events but how much it costs them matters now. As does how much they are willing to pay for the privilege. Back when the paint giants were putting six figures plus into a league they had (some) leverage. Today, not so much. They pay considerably less and consequently have less leverage.
Keep in mind they (paint giants) continue to compete against each other, too. If giant B sponsors league X now giants A & C have to decide if they need to counter that effort. That is a difficult environment in which to agree on much of anything.
Interestingly enough there is one place the paint giants retain very serious leverage and that is with sponsored teams. Despite the fact most teams get less paint than used to be the case it is of critical importance to the survival of many teams. The downside the paint giants would face to throwing their weight around with sponsored teams is that many teams participate in one league only and those that get more exposure by playing more are at a premium. The trend has been less about controlling who plays where than it has been maintaining a portfolio of teams for the least amount of sponsored paint.
There have also been times when the leagues were serious about possible mergers. That seems less likely as well because the core question is what does each side bring to the table? NPPL 3.0 doesn't offer much other than demands. It doesn't bring the dominate format. Or truckloads of the infrastructure of putting on a traveling tournament. Or ranks of loyal teams. Or an infusion of cash. Mostly it would bring a bunch of teams that feel entitled to a piece of the pie. Would the PSP be better off after merging with the NPPL?

Is it possible some of the big industry players are grousing again? You betcha. Does it mean anything? Not much. Is it possible a league has been making discreet inquiries about the possibility of discussing a merger? It's happened before. Is there a chance something will come of it this time around? (If there is a this time around.) I don't see it happening because I don't see how the pieces fit together beneficially for all concerned. Still, this Paintball and stranger things have happened.

9 comments:

Don Saavedra said...

I can't imagine a "merger" working at all.

Anonymous said...

Agree with you on the PSP being the dominant league right now, the only thing the NPPL could possibly bring to the table would be outside the industry sources and sponsors such as ESPN if they still have any contact with them at all.

Anonymous said...

This conversation (from the 'paint giants') has picked up steam because of the NPPL and its lackluster attendance and less than stellar organization. It was NOT predicated on the PSP lackings.

If its possible to set aside bias for one moment, words like shotty(events),'clinging' (to a selfish mindset) and 'deluding' (the national scene) come to mind in describing the current state of the NPPL.

Saying the NPPL brings any 'umph' to a merger table discussion is like trying to sell a house that has a cracked foundation and termites, but demanding fair market value because you just put a coat of whitewash on it.

Frankly, the NPPL could go away and the WCPPL could expand into a co-op role with the PSP and that could be healthier for the national scene.

At least then, there would be some semblance of integrity and lack of greed on the part of one league that has two P's in its name.

Anonymous said...

The only people who would be talking about a merger are NPPL people. Everyone else is talking about whether NPPL will exist next year or not.

The fact of the matter is the paint companies are not going to sign up for another year of sending paint trailers to 2-field tournaments where half the paint that comes of the truck is given away to "pro" teams.

NPPL could continue to operate without paint company support; it's not like the paint companies are going to refuse to sell them paint. But that would require delivering a product people are willing to pay for, which they do not seem capable of doing.

Anonymous said...

Erm, both leagues have 2 P's in them.

Anonymous said...

". ..both leagues have 2 P's in them"

haha. . .that they do! and i spelled shoddy with two t's. just goes to show: when ranting, copy and paste from Word. Still the whitewash anaology was spot on.. . no? lol

Anonymous said...

This rumor doesn't make any sense. "Push for a merger"? They don't need to push for anything. They can just decide to not pay NPPL any money and not send their paint trucks to NPPL events. Problem solved. Even if NPPL doesn't give up, they won't be any different than any other regional league, and as far as the paint companies are concerned, they'll only have one Pro league to support so they get what they want too.

Maybe the rumor should be, "Paint companies don't want to support more than one league, but don't have the balls to just tell NPPL no"?

Anonymous said...

"Frankly, the NPPL could go away and the WCPPL could expand into a co-op role with the PSP and that could be healthier for the national scene."
That would work and I think highly probable within the next two years.WCPPL is growing and the NPPL is shrinking.Players on the left coast comming up the food chain just aren't excited about playing 7 man anyway.Quick games is where it's at...

Anonymous said...

I would bet that it will be the WCPPL that ultimately puts the NPPL out of business.The WCPPL has a solid base of teams and will grow upwards from it's current D2 cap. Eventually these D2 teams will move into D1/Semi Pro division and Hinman will rise to the occasion and host them.Given the choice to play the WCPPL for half of what the NPPL charges where do you think teams are going to want to play? Everyone knows Hinman and the WCPPL management and that connection to the players is something the NPPL can not duplicate..Ask these same players who runs the NPPL and they don't have a clue...