Ask the NPPL: Rich Telford answers your questions!
Last week we asked you to submit your questions for Rich Telford on a wide range of NPPL & 7-man related issues. Read on for the latest paintball news regarding the NPPL, paintball player classifications, banned paintball colors, modifications to the format and a few words on the new pro paintball teams.
Ben S. asks; will the NPPL be utilizing the APPA ranking system? And if so, will the USPL be honoring the PSP classifications now that the PSP has changed its guidelines?
Rich: We are currently considering two different options with one being the APPA and the other being a company called XTRM. XTRM has a registration and classification system for other extreme sports, and it has a lot of other cool features. Regardless of who we choose to handle our registration, we’re hopeful that we can work with the APPA to keep all player classifications in one place.
PPB: Will we see modifications to the 7-man format such as a best of 3 or something similar to Millennium?
Rich: We currently use a best of 3 formant in the quarter finals, semi finals, and finals (only semi-finals and finals for Pro Division). The concept of using that format in all rounds of play has been discussed, but no decision has been reached at this time.
PPB: What improvements will the NPPL implementing this season over last season?
Rich: One of the things we are doing that I am most excited about is combining our Chicago event with one of the biggest and best scenario events out there. This crossover could be huge for the industry, bridging the gap between the tournament and recreational player.
Al asks; With all of the recent buzz regarding .50 cal and the potential costs savings (and increased paintballs in your hoppers), does the NPPL/USPL plan to allow for multiple calibers?
Rich: The NPPL is more than happy to allow 50 cal paintballs at the events as long as there are no insurance or safety issues. We are working to make sure there will be no issues with goggles or netting by allowing 50 cal balls. We also have to see if we would have to make any rule changes or division adjustments.
DJ Whitacker asks; Will the NPPL be willing to put another event in the southeast (Georgia, Florida, the Carolina’s) in the near future?
Rich: With only four events, we can’t be everywhere. We look for the best venues we can find, as well as areas that can support the event. We will go wherever there are enough teams to justify being there. We would love to have an event somewhere in the south, we just need the demand to be there from the teams and the right venue.
Jmetz asks; Are there any efforts to promote NPPL layouts at local fields across the country? Obviously there are plenty of fields out there using PSP layouts, and most of them change the moment PSP releases a new layout for events. Is this something entirely up to local fields, or does NPPL have a plan for promoting the format so it just doesn’t plain die out because of lack of exposure? Thanks!
Rich: We release our fields weeks before the event, and hope that fields set them up so teams can play. I do like the idea of doing some sort of program where we can help fields do this.
SplattDaddy asks; Why wouldn’t the NPPL go to a “race-to” format? And as a follow up, ViciousPlaya inquires as to if a 7-man “race-to” format has been considered?
Rich: We have talked about using a “race-to” format, and it’s a real possibility. The NPPL has been doing it on Sunday for a long time. Right now we are focused on getting together a group of players and industry leaders to focus on just this kind of topic. We want to try and get as much input as possible from as many people as possible, and then move forward.
PPB: What can you tell us about the two new pro paintball teams that have been rumored?
Rich: Not all that much. I have some general information. There is a team from Canada that have some Impact players on the roster who will be playing. You guys all know Entourage and the Naughty Dogs, and we haven’t made a decision one way or another on the other teams that have applied.
PPB: There has been a rumor floating around that KEE or another manufacture of paintballs would be selling their brand exclusively at all NPPL events. Is this idea still being considered?
Rich: The NPPL is really excited to be working with KEE this season. KEE has really stepped up and gone out of their way to support the league and the teams. Their deal is to be a paint sponsor for the league, and it is not exclusive. I do know that a company must sponsor the league for their paint to be used. And speaking of paint, yellow is not going to be a protected color for 2010.
On a lighter note - CitrusMaximus asks; Who do you think would win in a fist fight – Ghandi or Jesus?
Rich: This is a tough one, but Ghandi was a pacifist and Jesus believed in an eye for an eye. On the other hand, a little known fact is that martial arts started in India, so Ghandi might have used something like Aikido to defend himself leaving Jesus wondering what happened.
PPB: Anything you would like to share?
Rich: Yes. First, thanks for this opportunity. I’m a big fan of the site, and I check this and Ballers everyday to get my daily does of what’s going on. Secondly, there is a lot of negativity and bitter people out there. Don’t be one of those people. Emotions run high because we all feel so strongly about paintball. In the end though, it’s all paintball so support it. 3-man, 5-man, 7-man—it’s just paintball so if you love the sport then support it. If you can’t so that, at least don’t try to tear it down. There has been more damage done to our sport in the last 3-5 years than we could possible imagine. We have set ourselves back into the stone ages. That’s all I have. See you at the next event.
About Rich Telford: When not captaining pro paintball team Sacramento XSV, Rich Telford works with the National Professional Paintball League and assists his wife, Gina, in running Extreme Paintball, a paintball store and field located in Modesto, CA.
Special thanks to SplatMagazine for the photograph of Rich Telford.
This article was authored by Justin – who has written 875 paintball news and gear articles.
Justin was introduced to the game of paintball in ’96. Since then, he has been actively involved in promoting and playing in recreational and tournament paintball.
12 Comments
Thanks for all the answers, appreciate the honesty!
Nice work ProPaintball. Linked this from Ballers….
Keep up the good work.
And now I know yellow will be good in the NPPL!! Looks like xsv can still keep it yellow ;-) Just have to do a PSP jersey and a NPPL one.
Special event jerseys are always cool..thanks for the kind words Junior.
Hi-ho, hi-ho, its off to work I go. Once yellow version jersey coming up.
I say keep both 7 man and the 5 man race to formats, it is a lot money for teams to play in both leagues at the moment so each team must and should pick a format that are far better in playing, or feel do better for their sponsors, with teams picking what format they want, leads to better competition in each league. If a team does compete in two leagues and plays both formats than they can really be called the “BEST TEAM IN PAINTBALL” if a team competes only in one format then ONLY “BEST 7-MAN” “BEST RACE-TO” team.
There is many pros specifically considered “MASTERS” or “Know To – How To” or just knowledgeable pros in each format to support both leageus. I would like to see more like “7 man” “race to” events held on the same day, at the same, at the same time. Be a hell of a trade show and paintballers will take over cities bringing in so many people concentrated in one area it will draw attention. Ballers will cause traffic on freeway exits and have all local hotel rooms booked.
Jesus actually said you should “turn the other cheek” if someone came at you…so Ghandi wins in a landslide.
I was going to say the same thing! Jesus preached love and forgiveness!
Thanks to ProPaintball and Rich for taking the time for us.
God bless, Rich
I say use the “Race2″ format but make the point cap 5 and limit each point to 5 minutes. It encourages faster gameplay that may be lost when there are 7 players on each side of the field. Just my $0.02.
Best of 3 could help minimize the impact of reffing mistakes and such, but beyond that, play X-Ball.
Consider the idea that only the PRO teams travel and play on a nationwide circuit? There could be a professional division that travels around the country with one field set-up, play only on the weekends rather than 4-day events. A larger bulk of sponsorship dollars, promotion, and marketing could then be focused on the top-level teams/players. The divisional teams could play on a regional circuit (divide the country in 4s) with a set-up very similar to professionals as far as bunkers, stands, refs, staging, etc. and can play on the weekends for events
Regional Format:
Cut the nation into 4s and label those the 4 regions of the league. Within the regions have 4 events scheduled throughout the first 80% of the season. These events would be on the least number of fields possible, considering comfort, and at a local field the meets space/location standards set by the league. There would be equipment such as turf nets, lights, etc. set up by the league so that the set up would be congruent with those of the other leagues and divisions.
The pro division would travel on a national circuit playing 10 events in locations placed throughout the regions in areas based on exposure to the public and television. Pros would only need to play on one field with the small number of teams playing in the event.
The last event (10th for pros an 5th for divisions) could be at a venue like we are used to with the divisional and pro teams in the same place at a large event to see who is who among all the regions.
How this would help:
This would allow divisional teams to spend a significant amount less on traveling, entry fees, rental cars, hotels (nearby teams), food, etc…imagine the amount you would spend on an event if it was only on the weekend and it be very likely that your team could drive. It would be travel wise like a practice in terms of cost.
What Id hope:
With all of the events to the main league in the country being within a driving distance for divisional teams, we would see an increase in the number of teams that played in the divisions due to all the costs that would be significantly lower and the amount of weekday time that is reduced in order to play. Think about all the teams that would be able to afford to come out of the local/regional/non-national leagues to play a league where their teams success would be measurable to a way larger number of teams. Think about the number of events that your family and friends would be able to attend with the events being on the weekends and within driving distance. think fan base.. think local support/sponsorship.. give the local car dealer a reason to put their logo on your jersey because you actually play in front of potential customers rather than across the country.… local stores could be competitive vendors without having to ship tons of product across the country to be at half the events.
play only on Saturday and Sunday for events:
With a smaller number of teams being at events due to regional division and the separation of the pro division, it would be manageable to play all the games on Saturday and Sunday.
How this would help:
This would allow players (you’ll see perks in this for them all over the place) to maintain school careers as well as welcome parents to join the action without missing work (secondary fan base). This also helps players in the pro division play all their events while maintaining a career/job.
More pro events: 8-10
With more pro events we would see an increase in the amount of pubic exposure to the best in our sport, inner and outer industry sponsors. Also make the events easier to televise. This may seem like a direct stab to divisional teams, but look at it for what it could do for the sport above all things.
How this would help:
People want to see professionals. In any sport that is on TV the only teams on TV are the pros, so why should events be any different? We don’t go to NBA games for 4 days and watch the D league and the richest college and high school teams play you know, whoever could afford the plane tickets and the travel costs… ) A better example would be where this all dawned on me, Huntington beach one year when we were playing at the same time as the surfing event and I remember walking over there and watching for a second before I asked,” so what is this?” and the person that answered said that it was a professional surfing competition and the people out there are pros. Me not knowing anything about surfing decided to sit there and watch, not because I like surfing, I was just interested and part of the public.. what interested me was that the best was who I was watching, and everything I saw, I knew it was the best. Then I walked over to the paintball event and wandered through the maze of fields to see 80% divisional games going on. How can we expect strangers to be interested when most of what is out there is people that are in the beginner skill levels and low levels of experience…. We can’t !! if the goals of our sport point in a television/professional type direction, we need to take steps in that direction first. More events would mean more exposure for sponsors who want national exposure. outside sponsors, big names … more pro events may mean better for being on TV because the events are only 2 days long, 24 hrs of play, and there are more of them(10) so its more like a season.
Here is the logic
Now we have with both leagues combined 8 events with the way things are, but with the regional system there would be a total of 2 events with the 4 separate regions having 4 events (16) + the divisional and pro teams sharing the 5th event (17) + the 9 other pro events that will go on throughout the season (26). This is 26 events vs. the 8 that we are used to with the two leagues we have now, and with the system being regional instead of national, there would be plenty of room for teams that are financially binded to the local circuit to be a part of the national paintball scene.
There is a lack of growth in our sport and its simple as to why that is. An easy excuse is that the economy is bringing down the number of people who can play, and that’s true, but no matter the economic situation, this format allows for growth among the regional leagues with the regions being able to use the entry fees as funding for their events while serving a % to the pro division, which should be funded with sponsorship dollars ( since its 1 field and 15 teams) while the current system just has to rely on tacking more days onto each event and.. remember when life was good in paintball to the point where World Cup started on Tuesday? Wtf would the leagues do if we got back to that again? This system allows for the regional leagues to max out at a number of teams that can get all the play done in a weekend and once it hits that point expanding into zones of that region… sounds crazy but imagine 4 zones within 4 regions within 1 nation….sounds like little league baseball a little. Bottom line is there has to be room for growth if we want the sport to grow and growth comes from money and money comes from players and sponsors, and players and sponsors come in bigger numbers the cheaper it gets. simple econ101… this doesn’t sound like the perfect fix it for the current situation of our sport, but it is the plan that can lead to our sport being ready for growth and prosperity..
Food for thought:
Paintball is easily considered interesting and exciting in comparison to other sports, but the problem in getting people to watch it is they don’t know what they are seeing.. people will watch and eventually learn the sport if they can rely on the fact that what they are watching is the best in the world… this will never happen with 2 elite leagues trying to survive and operate… TV and big name sponsors are simply going to be more likely to get involved with a syetem that has structure to grow and excitement to capture viewers.. people watch the Olympics and the x games because it features the best in the world, if there were division 1 curlers or speed skaters on TV the likelihood of it getting any viewers low because no one is interested. People are interested in professionals, live and on TV.
The goal:
the goal here is to make playing paintball cheaper for divisional players, as close to free as possible for pro players, and be able to promote the best of the sport out to the nation, and divisions out to the regions/local scene all within the same structured league. Not to mention matching the sponsors with their circuit. have local sponsors at regional events, while national sponsors at the pro events.
I expect this to get ripped apart because it has not been edited or researched.. just an idea, so destroy at will