Major League Paintball on Suicide Watch

The MS is currently being sedated and fitted with restraints lest it harm itself once it realizes the full extent of the Malaga debacle. It's being reported that in a brief moment of lucidity during the night the league seemed confused about precisely what had happened. Doctors have counseled waiting until the league is stronger before revealing the truth. That may not be possible as the next event is barely a month away. Unlocked registration for Bitburg stands at 7 teams across 3 divisions. It is hoped that all the stranded teams and players get home in time to turn around and leave for Germany.
VFTD would also like to announce a special offer available only to Millennium teams--pristine waterfront development acreage along the southern Gulf coast of Florida at virtual give-away prices. Contact via email for details.

A sudden (last minute?) influx of teams swelled the ranks of participants for the not so Grand Tour's May 1-3 Venice event to 30 teams. Also announced at the last minute is a change of venue. It seems the original venue, a mainland park with a view across the lagoon of Venice, is overbooked or something so the event has been moved further inland to another Mestre city park. The GT will provide free shuttle service to the new venue. On a sad note nobody took me up on my offer to coach and provide a guided tour of Venice for the price of the plane ticket so it looks like I'll be stuck at home. That means I'll be enjoying a Soviet era May Day celebration with some of my tourney pals as we dress up in authentic uniforms and recreate the excitement of the times with our model tanks and missile launchers, drink vodka and goose step down main street.

In NPPL country registration has opened for the Chicago event scheduled to take place at CPX in Joliet over the Memorial Day weekend. No word yet on teams but registration is limited to a very truncated period of about 3 weeks. Given that Monday will be a national holiday the NPPL has altered the usual event schedule with play beginning on Saturday (instead of the usual Friday) and running thru Monday (instead of the usual Sunday.)
Will there be enough time to get a decent turnout? How 'bout a ginormous rec vs. tourney war on Friday before the event? I mean, we'll have all those Living Legend peeps showing up anyway. Maybe we can settle this once and for all. The world's largest game of Tap Out.
Will flying out of Chicago on a holiday be more expensive than normal?

The PSP has released a Chicago layout with a largely conventional snake (in a break with recent past practice.) Registration is open and there are currently 90 teams registered; 70 Race 2-X and 20 Race 2-2. Otherwise everything is fairly quiet at the moment. (I'll be doing a special affiliates update later in the week.)

Expanding on yesterday's Monday Poll the numbers are running about where I expected them to with PSP holding a 2:1 advantage. The one area I didn't mention was pricing. It was suggested to me on the weekend that perhaps price had something to do with the Phoenix PSP turnout. I wasn't sure so I took a look and sure enough this year's Phoenix was priced higher in some categories. (Then I recalled questioning the 5-man pricing last year as it seemed designed to either "encourage" teams to register for Fri-Sun or take advantage of those intent or only able to play on Sat-Sun. On the flip side the league could argue there are/were logistical reasons, etc. for the price differences.) Anyway, it seems possible price also had an impact on the Phoenix turnout and scheduling might have had an effect as well given that 5-man play was only Saturday and Sunday in Phoenix. (Curiously, the league has gotten more 5-man teams to sign up for Fri-Sun than Sat-Sun even though the shorter schedule would seem more convenient.)
For Chicago the prices are consistent and Race2-2 is only being offered on Sat-Sun. When the variables keep changing it's hard to know which ones have the most influence. Perhaps the PSP ought to include a brief survey for team captains at registration in order to get some feedback? Just a thought.
As interesting as all that might be in a direct comparison PSP 5-man is distinctly less expensive than the NPPL version, ranging anywhere from $100 - $400 dollars less depending on division and schedule. I smell another 5-man related poll coming next week.