Sorry kids but here's another tedious post asking for your participation (ha!) but I continue to be hopeful--or else I don't really care. Whichever choice you prefer. In the last post--First Look at the Season Finales--which you failed to respond to despite my invitation--the comments are mostly about the notion that the PSP should improve the tournament-going experience by, you know, doing extra stuff. (If you want to know what was actually suggested check the comments out. I'm reasonably confident no harm will come of it.) So this time I am soliciting your opinions about what would improve the tournament going experience. (Yes, we both know it's a waste of time but I haven't gotten around to previewing either the Chantilly layout or the Richmond Cup layout yet. Which I promised to comment on.)
Despite the futility of this request I am including some basic ground rules in order to further alienate y'all. There's no point in saying you want lower entry fees or cheaper paint. Those go without comment--and we both know it ain't gonna happen. Other than cheaper what could event promoters do that would improve the tournament-going experience? Another way of looking at it might be to point out things you think are missing from the event experience you think ought to be included. And beyond stuff you might like would any of your suggested improvements be the sorts of ideas that might draw more teams?
Tell VFTD how to make your tournament experience better and who knows?
Despite the futility of this request I am including some basic ground rules in order to further alienate y'all. There's no point in saying you want lower entry fees or cheaper paint. Those go without comment--and we both know it ain't gonna happen. Other than cheaper what could event promoters do that would improve the tournament-going experience? Another way of looking at it might be to point out things you think are missing from the event experience you think ought to be included. And beyond stuff you might like would any of your suggested improvements be the sorts of ideas that might draw more teams?
Tell VFTD how to make your tournament experience better and who knows?
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19 comments:
Of all the suggestions I made, the one I think which can improve the event atmosphere the most would also make he league some money. A large October fest style tent (well maybe not that large if you've been, but then again this is world cup) with drinks and tables and webcast screens.
Alcohol or not depending on legal hurdles, but at the least drinks so people can hang out. Maybe rethink the food vendors... Have them all stage I part of a 60x40 tent or whatever size you need so you can have a food court of sorts.
But the key point is to have the webcast going so people can see it and have a good time hanging out talking and watching paintball.
It would be pretty cool to offer some streetball style rec play, only open maybe just sunday morning when there is some extra field time and staff available. Just charge maybe $25 a person for admission, would give a lot of extra value to teams who get knocked out early and teams that fly back can shoot up any leftover paint and have a little extra fun. No need for much staff, maybe just 3-4 refs to keep things safe and moving smoothly. This would come at very little if any profit for the PSP, but would create a lot of added value and goodwill for the players who have sacrificed so much to make it out there.
if you think PSP could run streetball and charge $25 without the players screaming about how much they've already paid to be there.....
'sacrificed', lol.
I dunno, I think all of your vacation time, a significant impact to family/relationships, decent portion of your income (or even worse going into debt) is not a trivial cost to be a part of the psp experience.
Now if the humorous missy, could actually articulate with a sacrifice is without resorting to looking it up, I'd like to hear. So give me your definition please.
That's cute of you.
Sacrifice is a selfless act. Pissing off your family and spending all your time and money choosing to play a game is not a selfless act. Quite the opposite.
If, as you imply, you put your family in debt to do the above, I reckon I could even argue that it's actually them that are making a sacrifice to keep you happy, and not you.
Happy?
PS. I like the idea of the beer tent. It would definitely need to have beer in it though...
Sacrifice in no way is defined by selflessness. I love the idea of a beer tent.
Comments fall on deaf ears. Why even post opinions on this site? Always ends with the game needs to get cheaper comments or bickering .
Actually.. the whole tent or tents thing is a huge deal to me.. Look at all the players and teams that hang around the shadows of the truck containers. Grandstands with some sort of roof or covering. Also a place to setup would be nice.. even if you have to "rent" a space to keep your gear safe without having to walk to your car and back. GI has it for their teams, I think HK, and Empire also do..
Allowing pop-up tents, particularly at the warmer events.
1 - At the WCO spectators with pop-up tents were instructed to take them down. Grandma & Grandpa are told tough luck, stand in the sun like everyone else. This stems from an incident several years back where a loose pop-up tent costed the PSP millions in a law suit when a kid was injured by the flying tent. At least this is the story told by the event staff when they instructed us to take the tent down.
First, is that really something the PSP can get sued for? I mean sure you can sue for anything these days, but it would seem to me that this is something from a legal perspective you can set such that spectators could be allowed pop-up tents and the PSP would be held liable - there's a way to do that is my point.
Second, the "customer service" from the PSP event staff acted rather "deuchey" and as the face of the league it was disappointing to see this. Here's what I would have expected to here from a professional organization talking to their spectators: "Sorry folks, I'm going to have to ask you to please take these tents down. It's against the leagues rules. I know it's hot, there is shade here and here, water here, etc." and if asked why tents aren't allowed..."several years back we lost a lawsuit when someone was injured by a loose tent, so unfortunately we had to implement the no tents rule" INSTEAD of..."gotta get this tent down now!" "But it's like 100 degrees and sunny right now." - "It's the rules, take it down or you'll have to leave the venue." - "Ok, but why's there a no pop-up tent rule?" - "Oh, you want to know why?!?!" ...and then he launched into his speech of why in an aggressive way and told us to pack it up or not be allowed back in. It didn't help that one of my companions yelled an explicative at him as the cart was driving off....but still that was post the initial exchange.
It was disappointing, and enforcement was not universal throughout the weekend as multiple times I witnessed erect pop-up times being used by spectators.
I think it draws at a larger customer service issue from the league. They appear rude and disrespectful, and they have a leg up because I really can't go anywhere else for a national league. So is that the answer? If you want to play nationally, play in a league where they treat everyone like an 18 year old "punk"? Sorry to sterotype on the typical paintball player, but that's the impression I get.
Anyway, end of rant...
*wouldn't be held liable
An idea I had been giving some thought lately was the ability to offer game film. Almost every "official sport" does. At first thought it seems impossible but I think it is definitely feasible. The quality wouldn't be as good as that of NFL film or the like but it would still serve a purpose.
I haven't invested an extraordinary amount of time into this idea but the basics are to set up your action camera of choice around the field, I was thinking 12(one at each deadbox, 3 on each tape, 4 to rotate in as batteries die) cameras per field. Almost no point to point maintenance, just have the refs glance at the end of every point to make sure the cameras aren't gooed up. You then just take the footage and sell it to teams.
Just as a rough estimate on prices I would say $200 per team for all of your team's games($25 a person for a 10 man team). This becomes even more attractive if teams can get their footage at the end of each day and even more attractive if you can buy other team's footage for, lets say, an extra $25 per game. No you're thinking there's no way that $200 dollars a team could cover all the expenses associated with this, but wait.
Let's use World Cup as an example. 400 teams on 10 fields. We're going to assume that a measly half of the teams buys this innovative and, keyword, well marketed, idea. Well, 10 fields means, holy shit, 120 cameras for cup. That's $36,000 for the current model of the mid range go pro camera(obviously you could use some other camera but I'm going with go pro)!!! No way to sugarcoat it-that's a lot of money. But, with 200 teams buying this at $200, you're looking at an income of $40,000 for Cup. So we're gonna say $2000 dollars for technological infrastructure and $2000 dollars for labor; I have absolutely no idea how accurate those last two numbers would be but we're gonna roll with them. That leaves a net profit of a grand $0. But, now that you have already paid the extremely high capital with the income from Cup, events from now on will be highly profitable to the league and highly helpful to the player.
Obviously a lot more thought and planning would have to go into this for it to be worth the effort but, to me at least, it seems not only feasible but also profitable. Under the assumption that you could arrange a partnership with Go Pro, or your action camera company of choice, this idea becomes even more profitable. It might also be possible to lend the cameras to affiliate leagues to make the idea even more appealing.
splatkid
Would you drop me a description of the staff person via my email link in the sidebar? Thanks.
Joshua
Interesting idea but how does the league transfer the data from 12 cameras in real time--and to what storage device? And what is the method of data transfer to the teams? It would also all be raw footage and even if you could watch multiple feeds simultaneously it wouldn't be easy to follow the action or players. How long can a GoPro go before it needs a recharge or fresh batteries?
I also think you've vastly misjudged the number of teams that would purchase such a product.
Even so that's definitely thinking outside the box.
I didn't think about the data transfer. I was thinking have the feeds linked to a laptop/computer to process feeds and then just download it to disks to give to teams. I'm not sure if there's a program out there to actually do that so I see the flaw there.
Assuming it was logistically possible, why do you say teams wouldn't buy in? I can see how there could be information overload but I think it would give a new perspective to find and correct mistakes if you know generally what you're looking for. What am I missing?
You have a much better connection to the paintball community so I defer to your judgment on how many teams would buy into it. But I do think that if we could find a way to effectively take and use game film it would really legitimize the sport as well as provide a good analytical resource to teams.
Josh
I agree the information could be very useful and I routinely recommend to teams they film scrimmages and matches if they are able.
My experience however suggests that even dedicated teams would find reasons not to and in order for the data to be useful requires somebody to understand and interpret it and for team opportunities to spend time in review and evaluation. Possible perhaps at tournaments but unlikely for most teams otherwise.
Gotcha
The PSP needs to mature and respect the team and field owners would spend thousands per event and per year, by accepting some accountability for what they do. We do see year after year their attempt at improvements, but then we have an event such as Chicago this year which for our D4 Race team, was a disaster. We were set up on the far "practice field" that in past years was the place the guys went to pee behind the bushes. This field was the most pitiful excuse for tourney field that we had ever seen in our 12 years of coming to PSP events! The deep holes, especially the one by the snake, the chunks of grass that were tripping players, the inability to set up the field with any resemblance to the true layout because of the holes and dips and valleys, was inexcusable. The final insult was the fact that the PSP ran out of barricades for the spectators, and erected a 10 ft tall "fence" of netting to seperate the spectators from the field. At the halfway point down this "barricade" the netting was doubled, which made us view and coach thru 3 layers of netting! Which is an impossible task! I really think it is a crime for the PSP to collect the entry fees they collect, and then provide such an inadequate field to compete on. But then with no accountability by the PSP to the teams and owners who play, they continue to make these horrible mistakes that any conscientious business owner would be mortified to make! The need to be made accountable, as we have no other choice in playing with a different promoter. They could provide team liaisons to be a spokesperson for the teams, they could rotate the fields we play on giving all teams an equal opportunity to play on the better setups, etc. PSP please listen!
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