The X-Ball Finale or is it Fiasco ?

[acsik]

...wait


I think there would be teams who would afford shelling out 20k Usd. besides Nexus, Russians, TonTon. The problem is that before asking ppl you have to EDUCATE them what is X-ball and how it would impact their team.

I know we would shell out the bling-bling but a half assed implementation and a failed from start approach tells me a big fat NO! And it will say so until the format is clear, attractive and able to stand in that shape for the year.

From what I've seen/read/heard there must be some influental ppl in Europe who has serious (finance?) interest keeping everything as it is or at least keep it from grow too fast.

Would you shell out 20 grand to be a pawn in a game you might not be able to influence??? The answer is no I think!

As history proves you cannot hold back evolution, if X-Ball is the next step in the evolution of paintball (we will see in a year from now) then it must happen sooner or later. But it does matter how our continent and the Lads from that island west from France come out of it when it happens.

Failed from the start (due to delays etc..) or having the chance what we need sooo baddly too long?



cya

 

[Robbo]

Originally posted by relish
Robbo, I guess my biggest question would be, seeing as Nexus has some financial capabilities, why don't you guys just try and head over to the states in the same fashion that Sergei and the Legion are? Sure it would've been great for X-Ball to flourish in Europe in 2003, but it appears that Europe isn't ready to take on such a financial burden. The US is able to do so, and the best way to get Europe into the world paintball scene would be to field England's #1 premeir team: Nexus, against, say, Chicago Aftershock and the likes. If X-Ball does manage to break the all-important TV barrier, and Americans watch a European team beat up on the Yanks, maybe THEN there would be enough interest for the same to eventually follow in Europe, albeit with a lot of catching up, but we can't forget how young this sport is and how growing pains will have to take place no matter what.

Brendon
------------
Team Release Canada

Well, first off, it's a team decision not mine alone, second, we won’t be able to play against the likes of Aftershock and Co in their X-Ball as all the places have already been taken.
That said, the Super 7's looks the best bet for us but we need to work a few things out first and may end up playing mostly Super 7's but also one or two Millenniums.
We may end up playing no Millenniums dependant upon the team and our sponsors, I just don't know at this stage of the game.
Sergei is also considering these options in the light of no more positions in the American X-Ball League but I think he may well try to persuade Richmond otherwise, good luck to him if he manages to.
These are growing pains as you say but they are also pains that could have been avoided.
Robbo

 

[Baca Loco]

One alternative nobody mentioned

Maybe this is completely and hopelessly unrealistic but it seems to me y'all have unecessarily tied all your X-Ball eggs into a Millenium basket. At this stage the important thing seems to be from the Euro perspective to be playing X-Ball while letting the other potential developments develop. If that is truly the case why not put together 4-6 X-Ball stand alone events for those teams participating. Strip it down to the minimums to keep interested teams able to participate. One field, fancy venue not essential, one set of refs, maybe run them before or after Mil events. See if Richmond et al would be willing to send one or two US X-Ball teams to each event to keep the dream alive (as it's more feasible for US teams to come over than vice versa). Even consider imbalanced investment--let the teams that can afford it buy the field and ship it around, etc.

OK, here's an objection. There is no sponsor benefit and teams ain't into travelling reasonable distances and shooting a lot of paint with no-one watching. Money simply isn't there - everyone has shut-up shop when it comes to Europe.

And here's a reply. Where is the real sponsor benefit derived from? Is it from fighting over limited market share as represented by participating teams at big events or is it from the status of the teams involved and the media coverage?
And if, an on the cheap X series was run wouldn't it be covered, particularly if some US teams participated? And run separately from Mil events it wouldn't necessarily preclude some of the same teams participating in regular Mil events.

Just a thought.

 

[shamu]

Any chance of the Nation's Cup teams playing at World Cup Xball? Granted Sweden vs. NY might sound a bit strange. Still, I'd like to see the european all-star teams compete against the US pros (not a US all-star squad like at IAO). Maybe just the top 1 or 2 european teams could qualify for WC XBall....

 

[sykesg]

relish,

easy Tiger!!

"The US is able to do so, and the best way to get Europe into the world paintball scene would be to field England's #1 premeir team: Nexus"

Now that would be the Mayhem Tigers

 

[relish]

ha yeah sorry, I was making a big assumption there, seeing as nexus hasn't even competed as a team ever, but still do you think any good euro team could honestly beat the england x-ball squad? especially at x-ball? and yes robbo i understand it's a team decision, but seeing as you guys are essentially put together from that england xball squad, i was presuming that you, ledz and co. would prefer that format above all, and i was also presuming that you might have a chance in begging richmond for a final spot. Cmon here I would imagine each new team would represent more profit for the league, but then again what do I know. That coupled with all these crazy rumours about the PSP opening up even more franchise spots, along with strange maaaaaybe leaving the xball ordeal, and PMI dropping their spot......

 

[JTHM]

Hrmmm...

I dunno, but from where I'm sitting this all seems rather tragic.

At first I thought the 'Big Split' was actually a good thing, with the "give players a choice" and all that. Now it seems that it's really splitting two continents, this I'm sure wasn't projected but it's happening none the less.

I wish everyone the best in what ever they decide, I just hoped it never came down to this.

 

[Robbo]

Originally posted by relish
ha yeah sorry, I was making a big assumption there, seeing as nexus hasn't even competed as a team ever, but still do you think any good euro team could honestly beat the england x-ball squad? especially at x-ball? and yes robbo i understand it's a team decision, but seeing as you guys are essentially put together from that england xball squad, i was presuming that you, ledz and co. would prefer that format above all, and i was also presuming that you might have a chance in begging richmond for a final spot. Cmon here I would imagine each new team would represent more profit for the league, but then again what do I know. That coupled with all these crazy rumours about the PSP opening up even more franchise spots, along with strange maaaaaybe leaving the xball ordeal, and PMI dropping their spot......

Hey Relish, whether or not I could get Richmond to give up another spot is academic because we haven't got that sort of buy-in money anyway.
They are talking about $100,000, now Sergei can get that sort of money together but we can't and therefore cannot even consider going in.
This is why it's so frikkin tragic because we could have had a league over here that had the Americans coming over and our buy-in figures could have been made affordable.
It's true there wouldn’t have been many teams who could have stumped up the cash but with a little work, it was possible.
As for being called the number one team in England?
My sights are set on something slightly more than that, so the Tigers are more than welcome to it.
As for what Nexus would have preferred to play in, well yes, Nexus was initially put together to form an X-Ball squad and we did feel that perhaps the future was going to be X-Ball but events have shown us that perhaps although certain teams may well have been ready, the promoters weren’t.
Sergei and myself sat with Laurent in Orlando and explained the reason why a Nations based X-Ball was pointless and counter-productive to the interests of a team based Europe, he agreed wholeheartedly and now we come full circle right back to the beginning.....go figure

 

[relish]

Ah I see Europe's No. 1 Team? Maybe the world's No. 1 Team? Who knows, seeing as you guys are planning on playing the Super 7's this year right? And by the looks of it your biggest competition will be Dynasty seeing as how little pro teams are supporting the new league. Although The Naughty Dogs im sure will be making a good run next year, not to mention Red and his factory team making some nice pick-ups, so maybe it will be tough. ****, $100,000? Multiplied by 10-odd teams? You werent kidding when you said Jerry was talking about big money figures! In the end, the real question is if European paintball can even hold up to the mighty Yanks. The Millenium Series' draw was always the awsome events in great venues, but now the Super 7 seems to be picking up on that number, not to mention the big X-Ball craze, and what appears to be a lack of top American Pro teams making overseas appearances, what will European events have to even compete? Anyways I wish you and Nexus the best of luck wherever you guys play this year!


Brendon
------------
Team Release Canada

 

[acsik]

....welp


I saw those blokes playing at Euroball.

At Euroball it was evident that there is talent, drive and funds to make the team a BIG one.
I dunno how much training they had since then, but at Euroball I felt that they need to shake together a bit. I saw great moves and good players, but there should be lot of experience together to make everything click seamlessly. But as they say: "Pressure makes Diamonds"

Oh and they shoot a LOT, and when I say lot visualize clouds of paint. I hope they have a nice paint hookup (they do )

My only and slight problem is that they have HUGE expectations and hype to live up to. Lets hope they will and the Russian Legion and TonTons will have a companion in our never ending payback to the US.



Peace