XFactor to the NXL?

[Baca Loco]

Aight, let me begin by saying I've got nothing against the XFactor kids, in fact, they staged next to us in Boston and they have a store that recently made a good sized order of Speed Feeds so this has nothing to do with XFactor per se as they're a good bunch of guys. However--

I do have some issues (as we like to say in this theraputic generation) with bringing in a 16th team in mid-season.
It makes a mockery of the whole notion of THE elite pro paintball league. You simply don't make radical changes in the middle of a season. It's nearly as bad as, oh, I don't know, cancelling an event after it's been on the schedule all year.
It makes a mockery of all the other rules and regulations of the league because plainly if you can make big changes then littler ones are easy and any argument against making changes in mid-season evaporate. So can we do something about when to apply points differential?
As to the nuts and bolts of the change it devalues the event by reducing the matches played and seriously, given the current application of points differential, could result in some anti-competitive outcomes. The result is less competition for more money--in entries.
There's more but I'll leave it there for now.

All this is being done because the league is losing money. And plainly something needs to be done at some point in time. But, is this the time and is this solution the answer?
Btw, this would still be an issue if the decision hadn't been made to include the NXL within the PSP but it wouldn't be the PSP's problem and that seems to be a large part of the motivation to make changes in mid-stream. When the burden of taking on a financially unjustifiable league was dumped in Lane's lap that was a mistake because the NXL then became his problem. Just my opinion of course.

Alternatives:
Re-apportion the prize money. The entries were upped substantially at the start of the season and justified as a means of funding the prize package. No doubt all the players like the prizes currently available but it wasn't done for the players. It was done for the PR and to bump up the status of the league and in response to last year's Commander's Cup prize money. If you simply changed the payout to 25K, 15K, 10K and 5K you now have 20K in entries to put to the losses and the sting isn't quite so sharp. Is it enough to get thru the year? Can the refs be paid on that 20K?

There are a list of static costs associated with the league and they are what they are. Does more teams playing fewer matches alter those? If so, how and where? Seems to me most of the variable costs relate to officating and running the league but if less time on field would result in trimming costs by needing fewer officials overall then what about game times? We played 25 minute halves last year and 20 minute this year. A 20% cut. Is it better for the league to add teams and reduce total number of matches or reduce game times and maintain the current system? Just asking.

How 'bout finding ways to make some money off the NXL in the before TV era instead of simply accounting it a loss? Yes, I've got a couple of ideas.

No doubt most peeps don't really care about this and I don't blame you but in the long run competitive paintball will be what the peeps at the top make of it so you can count on a trickle down effect.

(This is also an experiment to see at what point Lane gets an ulcer. )

 

[Chicago]

I think it's worth noting that I don't think the Pro division, taken on it's own, has been 'profitable' for anyone anywhere in the past decade.

The Pro division anchors the rest of the event. It's what establishes the event as a national series, and it's what drives a lot of the spectators to the location to justify some of the money the vendors are putting up.

I'm not sure 'putting the money-losing NXL' on Lane's lap is the right way to look at it. It's just reintegrating the Pro division that had been separated from PSP back into PSP. Is more money spent directly on the Pro division (field, refs, prizes, lights, etc) than is made from the pro division (entry fees)? Sure. But the Pro division is also partly responsible for ALL of the other revenue the league gets. That's just the nature of the beast.

I also don't get how this change 'devalues' anything. These are Pro teams. They should be there to WIN - the value is the Pro level exposure, and to a lesser extent, the prizes. If you are valuing your Pro entry fee based on how many prelim matches you get to play, I would advise a move down to D2.

It makes a mockery of the whole notion of THE elite pro paintball league. You simply don't make radical changes in the middle of a season.

On what basis is this change 'radical'? There's 16 teams instead of 15. Whoopie. Same entry fee, same prizes, same 8 team single-elim finals, same game rules, same refs. It's not like NXL is set up with a regular season schedule or anything - it's a series of tournaments. Any other pro sport that consists of a series of tournaments has teams that don't pay every event, and some events have bigger fields than others. If anything, it's the LACK of changes in the field that is abnormal.


I think you're getting your panties in a bunch (as we like to say in this theraputic generation) over nothing. There's almost zero competitive effect - teams that were winning before will likely keep winning and teams that were losing before will likely keep losing. At worst, the competitive effect can't be any worse than half of a team ending up on Legacy as the result of the latest political fallout.

 

[MissyQ]

Its a clusterfxxx.
I agree with the Loco, and all the NXL peeps must be equally frustrated. Also, does having X-factor join the league do anything to validate the 'elite status' the NXL teams still seem to feel they are afforded? I don't think so (no offence X-factor).

 

[MissyQ]

Chicago, you are not on the same page, at least not the page I thought I was reading - but you never really know with the Loco.....


I don't think he was saying anything about the competitive side. we all know that X-factor won't have too much bearing on that. In fact I think the dilution of the NXL is the worst thing that could have happened. I am sure it happened for financial reasons (and do I think Loco's reassignment of prize moneys would be a more sensible idea) but even so you can't make noise about an elite pro league, and then pack lower division teams into it. It just doesn't wash.

 

[Baca Loco]

1--I think it's worth noting that I don't think the Pro division, taken on it's own, has been 'profitable' for anyone anywhere in the past decade.

2--The Pro division anchors the rest of the event. It's what establishes the event as a national series, and it's what drives a lot of the spectators to the location to justify some of the money the vendors are putting up.

3--I'm not sure 'putting the money-losing NXL' on Lane's lap is the right way to look at it. It's just reintegrating the Pro division that had been separated from PSP back into PSP. 3A--Is more money spent directly on the Pro division (field, refs, prizes, lights, etc) than is made from the pro division (entry fees)? Sure. But the Pro division is also partly responsible for ALL of the other revenue the league gets. That's just the nature of the beast.

4--I also don't get how this change 'devalues' anything. These are Pro teams. They should be there to WIN - the value is the Pro level exposure, and to a lesser extent, the prizes. If you are valuing your Pro entry fee based on how many prelim matches you get to play, I would advise a move down to D2.


5--On what basis is this change 'radical'? There's 16 teams instead of 15. Whoopie. Same entry fee, same prizes, same 8 team single-elim finals, same game rules, same refs. It's not like NXL is set up with a regular season schedule or anything - it's a series of tournaments. Any other pro sport that consists of a series of tournaments has teams that don't pay every event, and some events have bigger fields than others. If anything, it's the LACK of changes in the field that is abnormal.


6--I think you're getting your panties in a bunch (as we like to say in this theraputic generation) over nothing. There's almost zero competitive effect - teams that were winning before will likely keep winning and teams that were losing before will likely keep losing. At worst, the competitive effect can't be any worse than half of a team ending up on Legacy as the result of the latest political fallout.

1--do'h!
2--do'h! (again, but totally irrelevant)
3--yes, actually it is because the league was separated initially on purpose and will be again IF the quest for TV works out. You are looking at it the wrong way. The NXL isn't, except by proximity, part of the PSP nor is it ultimately intended to be so dumping it back into Lane's lap "creates" a financial crisis within the PSP that really isn't their province and precipitated this move.
3A--no, you're wrong.
4--Again, you are misreading the larger purpose of the league. However, within your construct the teams should object (particularly the bottom half) because it now becomes harder for them to succeed. You might as well say the NFL could change mid-year to a 12 game season and it's no big deal. The fact each event is a tournament is irrelevant except logistically.
As for your suggestion, when you move up to D2 we'll see how it goes.
5--and this littany of other pro sports would include?
6--perhaps you should stick to running your registry where your apparent predilection for woman's undergarments is harmless. Remove 25% of the prelims from any bracket and see what happens. Just because you can throw out a postulation as to the result doesn't mean it doesn't matter or have an impact on the competition or it's quality. Nor does the fact the current rules allow for sweeping roster changes mean anything other than perhaps that's a subject that ought to be re-visited if it was ever given any serious consideration to begin with.

 

[Baca Loco]

And yes, Missy, gets it so it couldn't be that difficult to comprehend.

Now if only she could do something about the 'turf' at NPPL events or at least get a green to paint the asphalt with that matches the carpet.

 

[MissyQ]

loco, the painful thing is that it probably cost more to paint a few bits of asphalt than it would cost to put rubber underlay under the whole event. Stadiums have a nasty habit of charging the earth for things like that to be removed.

 

[Chicago]

3--yes, actually it is because the league was separated initially on purpose and will be again IF the quest for TV works out. You are looking at it the wrong way. The NXL isn't, except by proximity, part of the PSP nor is it ultimately intended to be so dumping it back into Lane's lap "creates" a financial crisis within the PSP that really isn't their province and precipitated this move.
3A--no, you're wrong.

I'm not sure any of knows the precise relationship between PSP and NXL. We should consider the original reason it was separated though - investment and television reasons. NXL was set up as a franchise system, where the money that was to be spent to get the league to the point where it was self-sustainable (through TV revenues or other means) were provided by the franchise owners. While the franchise owners were similar to the PSP owners, they were not identical, and teh separation was necessary for the purpose of making sure those who invested in the NXL were compensated for the NXL's success.

Obviously, this plan did not pan out, and already this season 5 non-franchise teams have been allowed to compete with the franchise NXL teams. At no point that I'm aware of was it advertised that non-franchise teams would be limited to 5. I don't see where you can argue 'dilution' when that ship sailed with the addition of the first 5 non-franchise teams. In 2005, there was the NXL and an Open PSP division. In 2006 those two divisions were combined so that the franchise NXL teams play against non-franchise Open PSP teams. I just don't see why it's surprising that the number of teams would change when that's been the case in the PSP Open division since 2004.

4--Again, you are misreading the larger purpose of the league. However, within your construct the teams should object (particularly the bottom half) because it now becomes harder for them to succeed.

Define 'succeed'? If you were in the bottom half before, you'll just have one more team down there with you. Pro sports is about who is THE BEST, not who was there first. Whether the team can succeed or not depends on whether they are any good or not, 15 or 16 teams, doesn't matter.

You might as well say the NFL could change mid-year to a 12 game season and it's no big deal. The fact each event is a tournament is irrelevant except logistically.

Speaking of relevance - this isn't relevant. The NFL is a franchise-only league with a set season schedule. NXL is not. Comparing one to the other is not valid.

It's also worth pointing out that NFL has been around for a couple decades and has had a chance to figure itself out. NXL is still trying to figure itself out - changes are a necessary part of that process.

5--and this littany of other pro sports would include?

Any sport consisting of a season of tournaments - golf, bicycling, BMX, skateboarding... I'm sure you'll object that these are not team sports, but the comparison is more valid than trying to compare paintball to a regular-season franchise sport.

Remove 25% of the prelims from any bracket and see what happens.

There are 25% fewer games?

Just because you can throw out a postulation as to the result doesn't mean it doesn't matter or have an impact on the competition or it's quality.

It is not a postulation. 50% of the teams advance out of the prelims. By any standard, that is MORE than sufficient to insure that teams that deserve to advance have an adequate opportunity to do so. I understand that Strange, being 8th in the rankings, may be particularly sensitive to the cutoff point, but the problem there is simply that you're not consistently winning your matches. If you're not consistently winning matches, you're not going to consistently advance.

Tournaments are not set up to make sure that the 8th best team always makes the 8-team cutoff. That's not the point. Tournaments are set up so that the top 4 teams always make the top-8 cutoff. If the 7th or 8th place teaam doesn't make it due to some randomness, that's fine. If the 2nd or 3rd place team doesn't make it because of some randomness, then you have a problem.

Adding a 16th team is going to have no effect on whether the top 4 teams are able to make the cut.

 

[Chicago]

I don't think he was saying anything about the competitive side. we all know that X-factor won't have too much bearing on that. In fact I think the dilution of the NXL is the worst thing that could have happened. I am sure it happened for financial reasons (and do I think Loco's reassignment of prize moneys would be a more sensible idea) but even so you can't make noise about an elite pro league, and then pack lower division teams into it. It just doesn't wash.

I don't see 'noise about an eliete pro league' nor do I see anyone 'packing lower division teams' into it. NXL has the best teams on the planet. Some of those teams are better than others. Does it matter if it has the 15 best teams or the 16 best teams? That's still more elite than having the 18 best teams, isn't it?

 

[MissyQ]

Sorry Chicago, are you saying that X-factor are a top16 team?
presumably you are saying that about Legacy too?
I am not saying that they are, and that is why I am saying they are diluting what was an elite league by packing it with lower division teams. There is no relegation in this league to my knowledge, so teams that are accepted in stay there, no matter how they perform. Is that correct?
If that is correct then this is not a short term dilution, but a permanent one.
NXL has the best teams on the planet? 3 of the 4 finalists in Boston are not in the NXL. Many of the top 8 NXL teams did not even play on Sunday in Boston, and don't give me that xball-style-clash crap, all those teams have plenty of 7man experience and 2 of them have won pretty much every NPPL event so far.
How well to you think X-factor would have done?
What about Rage and Joy? They don't play NXL, but I consider them to be amongst the best reams on the planet, and they have proven as much.

You're so lame sometimes.