Well many people have been wondering what the NPPL or better yet how the NPPL is going to run things without Shawn Walker. Shawn and I started playing tournaments together back in the day of the Great Western Series. We played for Team Jester at the time and when Shawn went off to college I started my own tournament series. In the last 15 years I have been involed in every stage of paintball, from opening a field to a store to putting on events etc. Shawn and I share the same passion for paintball and when he graduated college he went to work for Dan Bonebrake and eventauly bought the XPSL from Dan. Then of course a few years ago Shawn sold the XPSL to Pacific Paintball and the bought the NPPL and had Shawn run the whole thing.
I’m not going throw any dirt around and say this guy did this and this guy did that but Shawn and the NPPL are no longer. So the players and the people in the industry that have been around for any length of time are wondering what the NPPL will be like without paintball people running it. The answer is , I don’t know. What I do know is that 2009 will be very interesting indeed.
I’m a huge proponent for Pro Paintball and I think it’s a critical part of the sport, the challenge is the industry has out grown the current format of the game. My hopes are that the NPPL and the PSP will finally “ get back” together so we can have a unified format and then make improvements from there.
As always I’m taking action and working on ways to better the sport and grow the industry, our Money Turf, the only turf designed for the sport of paintball has been holding up well for the last two years the NPPL has dragged it across the U.S. Now when people see paintball for the first time on Fox Sports they see a World Class playing surface. This puts credability into the minds of people as they say “ wow these guys are playing on real turf.” Our Money Paintball Charity has helped to open up 6 new fields this year arcoss the nation. I have other things in the works for 2009 so stay tuned…..
The daily question I’m getting asked is “ how is this economy going to affect paintball fields? In my opinion I think it will help! Why? Well I have been hearing that the doomsayers are saying we will be entering into the next great depression. If so look at what industries thrived back in the first great depression. Entertainment, boxing and movies were two of the biggest. The reality is people want to forget their problems, they want to escape. What better escape than paintball?
Here is the catch, your field better be clean and have great service if you want Mom ( who holds the power of the purse) to pay for her kids and husband to play paintball. If Mom is going to drop her little cubs off at your field she needs to FEEL safe and secure. A dirty run down field with tipped over port-o-potties won’t do it. One or two nice Money Turf fields with clean staff members to great her is a sure way to get Mom’s confidence and dollars.
If you want to just focus on the male demographic and don’t want to deal with Mom then make sure your field runs smooth and organized. If it takes forever to get to the next game or the reffs are terrible or it take 2 hours to get air because you don’t have a Money air compressor then most of your customers won’t be back. If they are going to pay to escape then you better take them away instead of frustrate them.
Feel free to call Money Paintball or e-mail us with any questions you may have: 1-866-999-6663 or evan@evanmoney.com