Thursday, April 4, 2013

Challengers on the Webcast

A recent commenter suggested it was nearly pointless to call Challengers "pro" if they weren't on the webcast. While more than a little hyperbolic he did swerve into a point of sorts. If the PSP wants to enhance the stature of the Challengers--especially early on in this process in order to validate the concept--then featuring some Challengers matches makes sense. The problem is PBA can't rig a second field for webcasting and there are a finite number of matches that can be played on one field. Fortunately that still leaves a small window of opportunity for PBA and the PSP to consider something like a 'Match of the Day' for the Challengers bracket.
Given a ten team division each bracket of five plays ten matches to complete their prelims. That's ten matches per day. Now while that may seem like a full day's schedule it's not. Last year the Pro Division had 12 teams and managed to get in all the matches necessary for a 12 team division in two days. Which was 12 matches per day. So we know 12 can be managed and we know the league will only be running 10 on the webcast field. So what if the PBA picked a prelim match from the first Challengers bracket on Friday and moved that match to the webcast field--and did the same from the other bracket for Saturday? That way at least a Challengers match would get on the webcast each day of the prelims and allow the talking heads to recap how the Challengers were doing etc. so they weren't totally out of sight, out of mind until Sunday.
Logistically the league could use Challenger refs and schedule the 'Match of the Day' during the midday break on the webcast field and all it would take is some coordination between the two fields schedules.
Sounds like a win, win to me.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like it. Now make it happen

Anonymous said...

Fair Question- What would happen if DYNASTY disappeared for a year?

XSV? Aftershock? Legion?

Trauma? All Americans? Assassins?

The PSP has a nasty habit of fractioning investment(s)and hoping for opportunities.

I don't think another NXL blackout is going very well... a rose by any other Anon. ;)

-YFA

Anonymous said...

I would really like to see some of the challenger matches and I'm sure it wouldn't be much of a big difference if they had one prelim match of each challenger team featured on the webcast. The new teams get to have some exposure and the fans get to watch their new teams play. I'm from the North East and I would love to watch some of the NE teams play.

Anonymous said...

If, logistically, there is time for 12 matches, then there should be two Challengers matches shown on each day of prelims. With a little effort in scheduling, we could see eight of the ten teams at least once each tournament.

Anonymous said...

Can someone explain how the point system works? So, does it mean we have 20 "pro" teams and two divisions?

Does the series title even matter?

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen/heard anything official, so I'm going to apply common sense (typically frowned upon in the world of paintball) and guess this:

1st place Challengers = 11th place overall in Pro and so on.

Baca Loco said...

Anon 153
For purposes of calculating the season ranking points that is correct. There is a formula in the new rulebook that shows the point scale for each placement.

And the way to look at first (or second) place Challengers is the opportunity to bump up and play Champions but otherwise I think a series winner in each pro division will be determined at season's end.

Anonymous said...

How would that be determined?

My initial thought was 11th place overall in series points...but that wouldn't work. It's possible that a current Champs division team could never be knocked to Challengers but yet still ends up 11th overall. Surely you couldn't award a team the series prize if they never actually played in that "division".

That would be somewhat difficult to track. Not impossible by any means, but moreso than any other division.

Would the criteria be that you had to have played at least one event in Challengers? Two events?

Anonymous said...

Is that really mathematically possible? I mean, at first thought that seem logically impossible. I'm not gonna try and work out the math, but I would truly be surprised if it were indeed possible…

Anonymous said...

There is a Pro series winner. That's it.

Grant H said...

Besides the the time that the Pro schedule should have to allow 2 additional games on the Pro field there is the lunch break hour as well. This is dead air time for the webcast and there's no reason that the Challengers can't delay their lunch break an hour after the Pro. Only issue is the poor webcast crew wouldn't get any lunch break...

Anonymous said...

If they were putting a few Challenger games on the webcast the teams that lost those matches would blame an inconsistency of reffing between the field they previously won on and the field they failed to win on. That's a given and I suppose the Challenger refs could be brought over to the champions field for those matches. At the point the refs are the same, the team losing the match can only then blame an inconsistency of field layout, or themselves, which means they will blame the layout if at all possible.

Missy Q said...

If 'being on the webcast' is the definition of a Pro Paintball team we have a larger problem. It seems the webcast/PBA is being absorbed into the PSP not only in the sponsors minds but also in the minds of the teams. The webcast is not a part of the value provided to pro teams by the PSP. It is a venture undertook by PBA which features these teams. Now the lines are getting blurred nd I foresee a problem in the very near future.

Baca Loco said...

Okay, okay, sounds like one winner--and as far as I know at this time there is no plan to put Challengers on the webcast.

Hey, I think that's a mistake but at least if that's the way it goes at MAO the option to change their minds will remain--and the option to fill some midday dead space with a Challenger match or two will still exist.

Old in 402 said...

Honestly, as a Vicious fan, I probably won't commit myself to tuning in until they are back in front of the camera. As a casual player and viewer I don't have 32 solid hours to devote to watching all the pro tournament games. I like to watch Dynasty, so I may catch a few of their games and try to make time for the finals. As for the rest, my team is out and therefore my interest has somewhat waned, I can read the results on the Nation come Monday morning.

Anonymous said...

Q-

I remember when people called a career in the paintball media “vanity photography”. ;)

Now? It’s the last indication we even exist.

Worse? The example is dwindling towards this singular goal.

Further compounding of the problem- that’s where we profit, and since it keeps this game afloat, we’ll follow it. The webcast has value, sure it’s inflated sense of self, but that’s what these narcissists want.

I can’t imagine how many kids will expect a sponsorship next year, or the year after, and how many will probably get “something”.

I know there’s one kid who has a “career in paintball media”, or so he’d say. His friends are breaking knees, starving resources and hoping to feed their families. He isn’t doing much for himself either, just getting by, smoking pot, playing video games, on a crutch to follow his idol.

I see very little of his signature on anything produced.

That’s a lot of pressure for someone following invented fantasy, one he did not derive on his own.

How much of Pro paintball rests on the red and black of the manufacturers? How many leagues follow this example? All? More than 3/4ths?

Why don’t we ask them to put it on paper for us?

Why not ask for an explanation of this clusterfuck? Why not have the exclusive PBA report this “news” for us? Hahahaha, it is their “job”, eh?

We can’t exactly get behind the force to pitch this stuff to Nike and Rebook if nobody knows about it! Lol…

Let’s ask a hockey player how many seats of the arena he’d be willing to pay for so that he could play.

This isn’t a survival game, it’s a war game with real corporatism and monopolization in tow.

Environments, tactics, strategy and all else follow this logic- reward the manufacturers to survive another day, the players feed. It would be easy for these “survival” enthusiasts to ditch paintball and lead meaningful lives in serving others less fortunate.

Might be time to break the mould or at least kick it off the couch? -YFA

Don Saavedra said...

Anon, I want what you're smoking.

Anonymous said...

Talk to your teamate, then. hahahaha