or self-medicated on heroin. (Or was it opium?) I'm never quite sure. Perhaps then I could alleviate the raging boredom. You know, like Sherlock Holmes. He of the notoriously low boredom threshold. Or maybe somewhere in the wide world of paintball SOMETHING INTERESTING COULD HAPPEN. It was so bad earlier I started reading the postings on Facebook. And I thought I was bored ...
Did you notice the recent PSP announcement (there never seems to be an off season when it comes to cluttering up my emailbox) that the new AES tourney series was a PSP affiliate series? (I deleted the first one too.) Seems they will be running 2 conferences with the northern conference in a region of the Midwest more or less overlapping that of the Vicious Series. And that the Vicious Series will be switching to a Millennium style of Race 2 (with 2 matches proceeding on the same field simultaneously or thereabouts.) Does that mean the Vicious Series is no longer a PSP affiliate? Oh and it's vaguely ironic that GP (& the Fergs) [formerly of DSS & Vicious] is headlining the AES series of events.
A query arrived in the mailbag recently wondering what I thought of the idea of trying to organize larger scale combination paintball events. Something like a Big Game and tournament to occur over the same weekend at the same venue--perhaps as the coordinated effort of multiple promoters. Part of the notion being that some of the logistical expenses overlap, some of the players interest may also overlap and the whole thing would have greater appeal to industry sponsors and supporters. What do you think? And while you're thinking take a moment to post those thoughts in the comments. (For those of you who weren't sure what to do with your thoughts.)
Periodically VFTD will receive requests for guidance or assistance from teams and players at different levels of competition that go well beyond the specific questions I'm (usually) happy to respond to in Baca's Mailbag. In the past I have tried to offer what is hopefully some helpful advice and encouragement but recently the numbers of this sort of request have been growing and as a practical matter I simply don't have the time to respond to each one individually. The language barrier has also become a more frequent issue as many of these requests come from all corners of the globe. For those who have lately received something of a stock reply, my apologies. And for those who are relatively new to VFTD there are quite a lot of posts in the archives covering practice routines, drills and the like. The search function isn't great but will help sort things out. As always I'm happy to respond to specific questions whether they become a mailbag post or not.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
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11 comments:
I would like to see that last year the NPPL and Living legends were both held at CPX, if I remember correctly. I think its a great way to get the two sides of paintball to come together (woodsball and tourney)
I'm not sure what the point of getting the two sides together is. It's sort of like having the tractor pull drivers mingling with the Formula One drivers. Just don't see much point in it. But it's the politically correct thing to do, isn't it?
From a promotional point of view, it's probably not a bad thing. A larger customer base for the venders can't be a bad thing. Also, from a general promotion for the industry side, combined big events could be useful, but they would need to be advertised in advance to the general public. Something like, "Come out weekend to ABC Paintball and see paintball played in all it's forms and formats. One of them is sure to be right for you." (obviously I'm not a marketing guy, but you get my drift)
yes CPX in Joliet IL has been doing the Living Legends Biggame and the NPPL Chicago open at the same time. as a player of both events i think its the best weekend of the year! i can play my tournament ball and then go mess around in the woods. they do a good job of making something for everyone. they had vendors there to cater to both syles of players. is saw just as many "tourny" players as camoed out players. its all paintball. like i said earlier. this weekend with those events is my favorite weekend out of the whole year!
Two sets of players in the same location is better for the vendors. The number of participants it matters for is a small cross-section, esp, since even if you are interested in both things, it is difficult to play both things at the same time.
I suppose, since more people is attractive to vendors, you theoretically get more vendors, which is an improvement for participants interested in vendors.
NPPL and Living Legends at CPX for the past 2 seasons. If other events followed suit (NPPL or PSP) I'd be interested.
The Living Legends/NPPL Chicago is NOT a success story with respect to the query posited. Particularly the first year as there was virtually NO cross over to the vendors village. And beyond that this example is to completely separate events that happen to be staged at the same venue over the same weekend. One reason the tournament fields set up year 2 sucked was because they were trying to arrange to get the vendors closer to CPX to draw on the scenario players.
Cross over events thus far have been a joke. The placement of the two events and the vendors could use some serious reorganization. The entire event should be side by side.
What about including a paintball expo mid week with 1 day exclusive (wednesday) to vendors and stores, then Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday is open for event action. Events could include a massive scenario or big game, a UWL, and an NPPL or PSP event. To make the tournament side even better, a regional event could co-run one of their events with the NPPL/PSP to bring in even more teams.
D-Day itself gets almost 4,000 players. If marketed properly (through ALL of the channels), this would bring in some serious volume and be good for everyone.
The UWL and or NPPL/PSP could offer teams the chance to try out the other event promoters format for a small fee by just having an open field staffed by a few refs. No scores, just explain how it works and let them have at it.
The scenario events could extend the tourny players an opportunity to play for a few hours in between (or after) their brackets. Great chance to check it out.
Place the vendors in the middle of all of this action/traffic and watch them sell out of equipment.
Lots of cross over, lots of money changing hands, lots of happy customers.
Both large scale scenario events and competitive paintball tournaments are attended by players already heavily involved in paintball. Neither attracts very many "newbies". The players attending already know about as much about the other format as they want/need to know. The whole crossover thing to promote the expansion of paintball in general is absurd. If bolstering numbers is what is wanted, hold paintball tournaments next door to a soccer, baseball, football, or (insert any other competitive team sport here) tournaments.
Reiner,
I agree that the national level is probably not the place to start. Btw, thanks for the impassioned input Justin, I like the sound of it, I'm just not sure it's workable.
However, I am also not convinced that it's "absurd" either. (Particularly in the context of the original query.) What if, instead of trying to do some sort of enormous super event publicized to the gills the effort was far more manageable and localized. It could even be offered by a single local field if they had the resources and different field types. A Big Game and say, a 3-man tourney and optional streetball for everybody who wants to play?
In the competitive paintball arena the issue is entry threshold and something on this order would attract a wide variety of beginner tourney types, regular Big Gamers plus some volume of rec players trying something new, etc.
The Vicious Series is still a PSP affiliate. Vicious was at the meeting in Vegas discussing next year.
The Millennium style of play was discussed by Vicious last year. It is an efficient way to run a tournament. Plus we own a software company to give us whatever we need to make it happen.
The Vicious Series is expanding out of Nebraska this year. You might see our tournaments in Colorado, Missouri and Illinois. We are trying to make it so more teams in surrounding states can play.
Thanks for the clarification, Karen. More opportunity for more teams is a good thing. best of luck.
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