State of UK paintball

[LATHAM]

Ok, so me and my boy Al Woods took a little day trip to the CPPS 7man event that ran today.

I've been hearing a lot over the last few months about how UK paintball is on its arse and is in massive decline. Well if it is it didn't show today at all. Now don't get me wrong, the whole place wasn't packed with pro's ripping each other and pulling off awesome moves, but there was an awesome atmosphere and from what I could make out some pretty ok teams.

Everybody now at least has there guns set up correctly with not a drop forward in sight and gun craft on the whole seemed greatly improved. Not only the top players realised that a good gun setup and a nice style improve shooting accuracy.

The thing is I think UK paintball just needs to walk before it can run, and well organised competitions introducing people to the sport has got to be a good thing. Talking about getting it on TV or why there aren't as many good pro teams isn't gonna do anything. Getting more people into the sport and keeping the tournament scene going should be the main focus, and I think leagues like the CPPS are perfect for this.

There may be a growing gap between the Pro teams and the lower div teams, but that should just inspire those teams to try and raise there game a bit.

Now I'm sure people are gonna come with a completely different view, but don't forget this is someone who hasn't played for over 5 years properly, but who did play EXL for Shock, and doesn't think things are as bad as they could be in these super hard times were all going through.

Good work CPPS and people like Planet who support them. At least someone is trying to sustain UK ball and hopefully grow it instead of complaining that it ain't like the good ole days.

That is all xxx

 

[Al Woods]

Today was a real eye opener and great to see.

Think you got it right there brother!!

 

[WildWayz]

Thing is, as mentioned on the Paintball Show, there are only a small amount of 'pro teams' coming out of the UK - Birmingham Disruption, Manchester Firm and London Nexus to name three.
We deffo need to get more pro teams to really take on Europe and even USA - but it all costs lots of money to do that.
It aint cheap playing tourney.

 

[shootinropez]

My problem with tournament paintball is like WildWayz said-money. Because there's very little advertisement and sponsorship, players have to play for it all on our own. For example, I'm a student paying for uni as well as a paintballer (a bad combination i know). It's hard for me to fork out £60/ day for tournaments plus travel...if it's local its not so bad...but CPPS is about 4 1/2 hours from my uni and so would cost £60-70 in travel costs to get there (i got lucky yesterday because i was in Oxford for the week and my parents drove me) but we can't expect players to pull £100 out of their ass every time they wanna play. I think that we need to find a route that's cheap enough to make it an every day sport. Until we get paintball into a place that people can go and play for £30/day, we're not gonna grow. Another thing, as much as i hate seeing sportsmen get paid 100's of millions of £ to play..its a good way to get players motivated to be the best they can be-money and fame..in paintball (as much as its MY dream to play pro) that factor isn't there. If you want 10 year old kids to get involved and want to eventually play pro, they have to see the benefits of it..right now we don't have that in our sport. AGAIN i do NOT want to turn it into the £10000000 a day sports like football, because to me thats stupidity and has ruined sport, but we do need a bigger audience and to grow our sport

 

[WildWayz]

Tourneys are always going to be expensive. The other cost you missed was practice. A lot of people play every weekend - and if that costs £60-£80 or so a weekend, that is £240-£320 a month before you even play a tournament. Plus you have to buy your clothes, which are expensive. Let's face it, is a jersey worth £60+? Or trousers for £110? How about the new Dye Rotor for £160?

It is about time Paintball companies started charging a lower price for things to encourage the take up. The Rotor should be £80. No paintball marker should cost more than £500-£600.

Price things better, get more players taking it up. I know in the UK paint prices are lower than Europe, which is great... but how much does it really cost to make a box of paint (seriously, I don't know).

 

[onasilverbike]

Thing is, as mentioned on the Paintball Show, there are only a small amount of 'pro teams' coming out of the UK - Birmingham Disruption, Manchester Firm and London Nexus to name three.
We deffo need to get more pro teams to really take on Europe and even USA - but it all costs lots of money to do that.
It aint cheap playing tourney.

Yes it costs lots of money, it always has, there other cost too, the time and dedication put in and the sacrifices made to get to that level in the first place. Without these there would be no 'Pro' teams, its not just something that can be solved by throwing money at it, or squeezing the paint and equipment manufacturers margins until they make no profit and fold.

 

[shootinropez]

Welll i know that practice is gonna be expensive..its not a good thing..it just is. To be fair paint is very cheap for tournament, but if you go to a woods ball centre, they charge £160/box sometimes which is extortionate. I think most people buy skids of paint which is like 160 boxes for £10-12/case. so they're making about a 100% profit margin at tournaments and 1000% at woodsball. EXTORTION. But yes I agree with WildWayz that prices are too high for gear. I shouldn't pay more than £60-70 for a set of trousers. Its ridiculous. This is why people are so against getting into the sport-money.

 

[Random Invert]

You complain about paint prices but if it wasn't for those "extortionate" prices sites charge then there wouldn't be a site to play at. Own gunners aren't worth a dime to these businesses.
The only way things will get cheaper is to encourage more players to increase demand but you need support at a local level to introduce players to the sport, but these new players are worth a lot to a site as a rental player so where's the incentive??

 

[Henry.B]

This is very interesting...

Having recently returned to the sport after 9 years out, I have to dsy, I do miss 7 and 10 man, and would, along with many other I know, appreciate the return of them both... even just for a bit of a laugh, or as a local, somewht light-hearted league. This whole new 'race to' format is completely new to me,and whilst I throughly enjoy it, it appears to be very competitive... which may (and in the case of some of my work colleagues), put potential new players from getting involved.

Definitely think that promoting the tournament scene is the way to go, and we can all do our part for that by advertising the sport; even just slapping some of the stickers you always end up receiving with new toys (markers etc) in various places where people might see them, and enquire about, can only help raise it's profile. I've got some of these stickers on my mountain biking and ski gear, and people have asked about it occasionally, so it works

It's true about extortionate prices at many rental sites... and I know a lot of friends who love pb but complain about these places... perhaps this could help introduce more people to tourney ball... if they can handle the competition...

 

[WildWayz]

Let's put rental prices to one side - that is different. That is a business and has to pay business rates, staff etc

It isn't about squeezing the manufacturers until they go bust; more about the manufacturers not fleecing customers with over inflated prices of their products.
Probably not a great example, but a 32GB Microsoft Surface costs $271 to make but retails for $499. A Kindle Fire HD costs $165 to make, sells for $199.

Obviously, it doesn't take into account R&D etc but you can see what I am getting at.

Probably the cost of parts for an Ego probably hits less than £400 which is the machining, buying boards and solenoids etc. Cost price to stores about £650. Cost to customer £950. Actually... more I think about it... it probably costs less than £400 to make... considering retail for an Etha is £305...
Actually, from memory, I think a Creed costs around £150 to make... hmmmm think my calculations are out.

Whatever they are, it doesnt cost THAT much to make a gun... yes, R&D adds onto the cost... rental of the factory to make them.. even so... would never cost more than £600. Like several years ago, highest price was £600 for the Bob Longs... everything else was much cheaper. But then everything shot up in price..