Ok, here I go again... 
I'll grant it wasn't a stadium, but com'on, it's a sport. Lots of people participate in and watch sports that are not in stadiums, including moms and kids.
Originally posted by Robbo
Damn, I just seen this post !!!
And do you think all people there including women and kids share your stoical views on the toilets ?
So there were portajohns - big deal. Virtually every sport I've played the toilet facilities have been the same - that goes from peewee soccer up to high school cross country - the only big exception was indoor track and field. Hell, even our high school stadium had people using portapots - and we had a couple thousand people of all ages going to those games. I never had to wait for a toilet at Cup, and never more than a minute or two at Chicago Open, and they were always relatively clean when I had to use them (not always spic-and-span, but certainly no worse than toilets in pro stadiums or fast food restaurants).
And the bleachers, you didn’t think they were a problem ?
Not at the X Ball field, there were plenty there. You guys just need to cut back on spectators.
The only time I saw that bleachers were a problem was on Sunday. Bleachers are expensive to rent. Really expensive. You'll never have good bleacher setups as long as you insist on having 100+ team events across 10+ fields because it's cost prohibitive to have 10 bleacher setups to accomodate the occasional peak crowds of a Dynasty/Aftershock game.
And the site layout, this was good also was it?
All of our guys who played 10-man were satisfied with it. Was there a better way to put 10+ fields and vendors on the location? Again, back to the 100+ teams scheduled across 10+ fields bit.
And the food on offer, that too was ok was it?
Right on par with the food at any other athletic event I've been to. Actually, the food was probably BETTER than what they were offering at the Notre Dame football game I was at a couple weekends ago. (Where your choices were hotdogs, pretzels, nachos, pizza.)
Listen Simon, he took more than half a million dollars in entries alone for God's sake, now add on monies for fields, booths and God know else Jerry charges for...and u can defend it?
So he took in 500k... so what? How much did all of the **** they did cost? People seem to think that because there was high revenue means something. It doesn't, because expenses are high as well. You have to look at what all the costs are, and you guys simply are not doing that.
Regardless, that's not really the point I was trying to make here. The things you are bitching about are ridiculous. The things that are preventing paintball from advancing have nothing to do with toilets or food or bleachers, and if you're trying to say that's what we need ot fix to get people involved, you're nuts, because (at least stateside) the kinds of sports moms and kids watch and particpate in have facilities that are WORSE than those of any PSP events. People will either eat before the event or expect hot dogs and nachos, they'll pee at home or expect marginal toilet facilities. That's athletics. They're not expecting 4 star restaurant/hotel accomodations.
What separates us from being a sport is things like allowing 100+ teams to participate in the same event and participate in just one event of the season, games that are sub 15-minutes, schedules that (even when "on time") make it very difficult for the spectator to be where they want to be when they want to be there, lack of separation between the players and the spectators, presence of vendors at the events, player behavior problems (and don't pull that "pros in other sports are dicks too" BS - I've been paying very careful attention to other pro sports lately, and the GOOD sportsmanship FAR outweighs the bad - paintball is the opposite), etc, etc, etc.
Good reffing I'll agree is a problem - we need to get refs whose job it is to ref and train them appropriately. Problem is finding skilled refs who don't also want to play, and who are wiling to work for the money we'll pay them. Really good reffing is going to cost much more than we're paying now, $300+/day easy, and frankly, the rookie/nov teams arn't worth that expense. Back to the inherent problem of 100+ teams again.
So, sure, focus on the toilets, or the food, but that's not going to get the sport anywhere. It may be what the PLAYER wants in an event they're participating in for their enjoyment (which is what you're doing if you're paying entry, less so if you're sponsored) but it's certainly nothing that shoudl be expected as part of an athletic event.
The real problem is that very little about PSP (or most other paintball tournaments for that matter) is an athletic event. It's a party/convention/trade show where people play some paintball. That's the product that's being sold and that's the product the players are buying. If you want a sport, you're going to have to ask for a different product.
- Chris
