Major League Paintball on Suicide Watch

Looks like the not so Grand Tour will be competing in Lviv, Ukraine this weekend with 24 teams across 3 divisions, including 8 pro teams.

In the Millennium Series registrations for Campaign continue to trickle in for the event scheduled for the weekend of July 4 which leaves less than two weeks for interested teams to get registered and paid. To date there are 27 open division teams registered; 8 in D2, 10 in D3 and 9 in M5. 14 of the 27 are UK-based teams (as I'm assuming the two U.S. flagged teams are likely made up of American military personnel--though it's just a guess.) Those aren't encouraging numbers but pre-Bitberg the open registrations were also soft until the closing week.
News on the mysterious Millennium Asia affair from a few weeks ago has gone very quiet as no official statements have been made by any of the involved parties although apparently PALS had promised a comment, however principles from PALS and Skirmish (Malaysia) were seen in a heated conversation at last week's MPOC event.

Early NPPL registrations for DC can be found on the website and while there appears to be some duplications (and repeats of/from Chitown?) this would represent some pretty positive numbers given the event isn't until August.
The real news though regarding the DC Challenge is that the NPPL is bringing back some sort of All Star game--no clue on exactly how that's gonna work except it's East vs. West and voters are restricted to recipients of the NPPL newsletter--and if that wasn't enough (and who says it isn't?)--the league is planning on establishing "the world's first sanctioned" Hall of Fame complete with an initial round of inductees, though again, I'm a little sketchy on the details. And, who exactly, is responsible for sanctioning this Hall of Fame? Don't get me wrong, I like the idea, somebody has to start the ball rolling but...are they gonna wheel out Bob Gurnsey (again?) to cut the tape and declare this Hall of Fame official? (Was that too cynical?)

Looks like PSP Chicago is set around 154 total teams. Race 2-X teams total 93 of the 154. Last year Chicago had 95 Race 2-X so those numbers are comparable despite the fact there were over 110 Race 2-X teams registered at one point. This year Race 2-2 numbers topped out at 61 while last year there were 125 Race 2-2 teams. Much has been made of the Badlandz throwback location and diminished prizes as possible reasons for the drop in Race 2-2 teams but it's hard to be certain. VFTD has also wondered if the affiliates are impacting big league turnouts in the lower divisions--as it appears was the case in Phoenix--but otherwise Midwest affiliate turnouts aren't even suggestive much less conclusive. Truth is nobody really knows if it's mostly the economic climate, the collapse of the competitive grassroots, no prizes, the Badlandz or some of all the above and, of course, it's the Year of the Rat.
The PSP has updated their website and it's a big improvement--How could it not be?--with new features including banner ads for the league sponsors along with at least the promise of greater future content. The event begins next Thursday though the Pros don't begin play until Friday.