[mulcher812]

Rabid you have brought up some great points and interest.

I'm interested in helping how ever I can. Just let me know how I can help.

[RabidChipmunk]

For those of you willing to help I thank you greatly. I believe in this and I'm willing to stake what I have on it as well.

To help, I need your thoughts and ideas. What have you seen that needs to be fixed? What would you like to see? What have you seen that you really liked? All those things will soon come in to play.

Above all though, we need to get the word out. Viral marketing is a very real thing. If you truely think this could be a good thing for our sport tell people about it. Point them at this link, at this idea. Have them bring their thoughts and ideas to the table as well.

I'll double check to make sure my email address isn't blocked either so you can feel free to send me any information or assistance you would like. PM or email. I'm more than willing to listen, or read as the case would be.

[psycko069]

Like I said earlier this is a great idea. The only problem I have with this is that it will bring back two different professional paintball tournament circuits. This is something that I greatly disagree with.

As far as a not for profit business, this is a great idea and I think it could do wonders for the industry. I just wish there could be an integration between this and the PSP, to once again have one "end all be all' tournament circuit...

[Barky TP]

Yeah id also like to be notified if anything can be done

[Barky TP]

also i believe the some of the pro teams that play just NPPL would be more than willing to with the problem

[Ionic Moron]

If its possible to expand some of this into canada I'll do (and I'll get others I know to do) whatever you need done. I'm only 16 though...but 7 man is actually just starting to get people interested here...now its gone :/

[MaxPower1272]

this has already started and has been running for 3 years in Arizona in attempts to bring tournament paintball here.

We've waded through problems of our own state and know what its like not having access to a national league.

We have adopted a constitution made by the members for the members of our organization and have rules and bylaws that govern our day to day operations. We are non-for-profit.

http://www.hellcatpaintballaz.com/forum/index.php

www.hellcatpaintballaz.com

I would be glad to help anyone who is interested in doing something similar.

-Eric Gonzales

[e_friccero]

giving away prizes has been terrible in the past it will continue to be the same at a national level

[Jester1]

I think your idea is an excellent one, but I would make one suggestion to you:

Look at changing the format of the game!

Buying the NPPL name would be an excellent start, but you need to be able to win over more players into playing the league in order to keep it running.

Lower cost venues will help lower entry fees, but you still need to come up with a format that will draw players to the league.

Perhaps this would be an excellent time to solicit from the masses suggestions on a completely new format that somehow combines the best of both leagues. I'm sure that the collective community could develop a completely new format to meet the needs of both 7man and Xball camps.

The format would need to be easier on the wallet (ie paint consumption) and provide a fast paced game that's appealing to players and audience alike.

Once a format is decided on, a regional format that feeds into a national series title would an excellent way to draw teams into the series. Many teams can afford regional travel, and having 4 or 5 qualifiers in a region would allow teams to play the format in these trying times.

Top teams in each region would be eligible to compete in a World Cup style finale. The "Cup" would have a separate tournament running at the same time to end the year with a bang.

Perhaps a good prize for the regional winners could be all expenses paid to the Cup (in addition to any other event prizes)? A portion of the regional revenue could be set aside for cash prizes to the National Finals

I know it's kind of rough, but I'm winging it here

[paintballer123321]

i like!!!

[Etfren]

I think this is exactly what paintball needs. To have the major league in the hands of the players will allow things to be done right and not let profits and "politics" get in the way. Also, this could enable us to promote a better image of the sport to the public, and maybe people will finally recognize it as us tournament players know it, and not as a bunch of kids running around shooting each other.

Getting the word to the public about what professional paintball is (and that there actually is pro paintball) is something I have wanted to be able to do since I got into tournament paintball. I'm tired of people not understanding the sport. You bring up football, and everyone knows what it is and how its played. I wish paintball could be the same someday.

I am willing to help out any way I can with this.

[juveg7fly]

In California it takes about 9 months to go through legal filings to get recognized as a 501c3. Without the 501c3 none of the donations or sponsors will be considered tax deductible. So if you are thinking about becoming a 501c3 non profit organization. You should start sooner then later. Also, it takes just under a $1,000 in fee's to get the non profit status. But, with the non profit organization and 501c3. It really opens up doors and sponsors are willing to donate that much more because of the tax writeoffs. Hope this helps. If you need need sny help with the Article of Incorporation to become a non profit organization, let me know. I'll do what I can to help. Pm me if you have any other questions or ideas.

[Bazballnut94]

I have read through this thread and I am all for the idea of a non-profit organization to get the NPPL back to the way it was intended to be. But the thing is, just rec ballers or even teams that play D1 will not get you as far as pro players. They are the ones with the sponsorships and the influence throughout the paintball community to transform this amazing idea into a reality. Many pro players are signed up on PBNation and they should really have the privilege of seeing this thread. There are many teams that only played in the NPPL and I'm sure that they would be happy to help out this cause.
I am pretty young (14), and therefore cannot do much financially or organizationally. However, I hope that your idea really takes off and that this gains publicity. If this idea gains some support throughout the community and gets written up in a newspaper (or even put on the News for that matter), it could help out paintball as a sport in general. Good luck with this idea, it is a great one.

[roccityhustle#7]

i don't even play nppl but i think this is horrible for paintball to lose one of the largest series in the world so even i who plays x ball and has never played an nppl event would be willing to donate. its worth it cause i love paintball and i want it to grow. i support this idea 100%

[roccityhustle#7]

Originally Posted by Jester1

I think your idea is an excellent one, but I would make one suggestion to you:

Look at changing the format of the game!

Buying the NPPL name would be an excellent start, but you need to be able to win over more players into playing the league in order to keep it running.

Lower cost venues will help lower entry fees, but you still need to come up with a format that will draw players to the league.

Perhaps this would be an excellent time to solicit from the masses suggestions on a completely new format that somehow combines the best of both leagues. I'm sure that the collective community could develop a completely new format to meet the needs of both 7man and Xball camps.

The format would need to be easier on the wallet (ie paint consumption) and provide a fast paced game that's appealing to players and audience alike.

Once a format is decided on, a regional format that feeds into a national series title would an excellent way to draw teams into the series. Many teams can afford regional travel, and having 4 or 5 qualifiers in a region would allow teams to play the format in these trying times.

Top teams in each region would be eligible to compete in a World Cup style finale. The "Cup" would have a separate tournament running at the same time to end the year with a bang.

Perhaps a good prize for the regional winners could be all expenses paid to the Cup (in addition to any other event prizes)? A portion of the regional revenue could be set aside for cash prizes to the National Finals

I know it's kind of rough, but I'm winging it here

worry about bringing the nppl back then worry about

by the way the more people donate, the more the league would get which ultimately means the lower the entree fees would be and maybe paint would be cheaper since companies could donate paint or something of that kind

[Jester1]

Originally Posted by roccityhustle#7

worry about bringing the nppl back then worry about

by the way the more people donate, the more the league would get which ultimately means the lower the entree fees would be and maybe paint would be cheaper since companies could donate paint or something of that kind

I wouldn't look for any one donating anything to help this along. Just because it's a non-profit doesn't mean people are gonna throw things our way.

The only reason he's suggestion a non-profit as it ensures that everything goes back into the league rather than a few pockets as it did in the past, after expenses of course.

[DiStUrBeDKiD6969]

no he wants ppl of the sport to donate money!

well anyone that reads this should put "help nppl" or somethign in there sig and just tall ppl to put it in there sig and itl get far there. atleast for some publicity around the nation! ya know?

[Boufy]

Originally Posted by Barky TP

can we petition for government money? I mean NPPL helps keep some people afloat and so many people can and will loose jobs if NPPL and the likes go down

car companies + huge corparate banks > nppl

[m3s0h0rn7]

Bad idea.

Don't buy the NPPL name, start your own non-profit league.
If you were to buy anything, only buy the non-liscened event gear, netting and tenting.
By all means, start a 7-man series. Non-profit is a good idea, but it would need exceptional leadership and you yourself would need to draw up a better game plan. Companies are unwilling to give out anything without getting something back these days. You are also going to have to compete with not only the PSP, but every other Xball and even other 7-man leagues. Furthermore, how do you expect to thrive on donations? That just doesn't work. You can be non-profit and still be buying and selling product. Also, prizes don't work for everyone. And a lot of what you've already said, besides non-profit, has been tried and failed. So, really, I would avoid this idea if I were you.

Someone will pick up the pieces. Probably the PSP.

[Mr Magik]

This is a good idea. I am just getting back into competitive paint ball so i don't know what the causes are that made NPPL go broke but I have been apart of another league that was about the same size as NPPL was and they went through the same thing. The CPL for those of you that dont know is the Cyberathlete Professional League. As they grew they turned from for gamers by gamers to a money making machine and their desire to make more money blinded them from what the gamers wanted and ultimately people stopped attending their events. If this is what happened to NPPL then theres very little that needs to change. All that needs to happen is someone take the reins of NPPL and hire a core group of people that are dedicated to the sport and want nothing but to see it grow. This core group would have to be payed staff that work on planning, setting up and running the events. Event staff can usually be filled by volunteers. When I was working with the CPL we always had plenty of volunteer staff for things like security, registration, and tournament check ins. Planning the amount of events that the NPPL does per year is a big task. You have to have a good size group working on it everyday setting up hotel reservations, reserving space for the tournaments, talking to sponsors about what they want to do at each event. Things like that. Also I can guarantee you that you will not lose any sponsorship support by going at it with the non-profit idea. If anything it will get you better prizes for winners cheaper deals for participants and a lot more exposure. All the players want is a tournament that is professionally run that isn't going to bankrupt them in the process. If you can get events setup in places that will have cheap lodging and are not going to cost the organization tons of money to rent out you will be successful. Theres no need for fancy stadiums and all that hoopla. All you need is a flat dirt surface with easy access to hotels.

Some major keys to keep in mind for most of us players.
Cheap entry, lodging and paint.
Professional fields, refs, and event staff.
Fun and interesting things to do when were not playing.

[fatballer189]

all in all i think this is a great idea im really excited to see what comes of it...im open to doniate