When will paintball be as big as football?

[Havoc_online]

I like to think(and have heard a rumors) that sometime in the next 10-15 years that colleges and universites will all have paintball teams just like they do football or baseball, you know, try out for the team, get a scholarship to play for that school and play in the NCAA league for paintball once this happens paintball will be televised and pro-players will start making the big bucks due to the advertising and competition. I have heard of smaller division leagues, but nothing big or televised. I mean come on, you know ANY paintball team could crush any football team, lol. What do you all think?

[Restola]

probably around the same time we all own helicoptors and fly to work... [/end 1950's optimism]

[oneshot]

there is already a college paintball league, which is growing by leaps and bounds, It is the NCPA. there are alot of big name colleges with teams.:D

[nutz]

when you ask??

no way to predict... probly within 200 years :D

[Jonno06]

many paintball playing back players could probably take on a football player......

i hope paintball sprouts soon.....even though it is already world known and one of biggest sports in the world,it could still get bigger,and better with time,if we are lucky

[Cha0tic]

this is the same question as, "when will pb be in the olympics?" the answer is, not for a pretty long time, if ever. sure its growing, but it lacks organization. it also is not very entertaining for the viewers. paintball is exciting, but not when your watching it. it is just very hard to capture the action, and follow the game.

[Army]

Paintball as big as football? That's gonna take a really big gun...

[zads27]

A = (Football: $15, some shorts and a couple buddies)

B = (Paintball: The prices nowadays make the sky the limit)

Economic expert says: A < B

[MantisMag]

i totally agree with zads. paintball will never be as big as football. football is just so much easier to play with your friends. all you need is the ball and an open area. there's too much gear involved with paintball. all that costs money. also there's the fact that a paintball field needs to be relatively isolated to prevent injuries to people passing by. paintball just isn't as accessible as football. paintball may become a recognized and respected sport but it will never be as big as football. unless of course markers drop in price to $5 and paint becomes a dollar a case. oh and it becomes impossible for people to be injured by paintballs. hahaha! i crack me up. :rolleyes:

[Havoc_online]

I don't think that it would be a problem for sponsors to cut back some mere percentage to play for paintballs and equipment, come on is this really an issue do you know how much money is blown on football and basketball games? remember by this time tv and advertisment has taken control, 1,000,000 rounds a game would'nt really matter would it?

[media]

Tom will invent a workable paintball cam system and all players will be required to wear them for televised tournaments.

[Wayland Fong]

i've often wondered this myself. i'd like to put in my 2 cents. i don't believe paintball will ever really be as big as football. but i say that only considering how big football is. i mean, c'mon guys. nothing is as big as football! not basketball, not hockey, not baseball, and definately not soccer (in the US, of coarse). but i do believe that paintball COULD be a big sport, among the ranks of these other sports. i very strongly emphasis could. it really depends on how the leagues develop.

right now, NPPL is in the best position to make paintball huge. they are doing a lotta things right, ie professional divisions, rulebook, professional referees. however, they're also doing a lotta things they're doing wrong. first of all, tournaments. paintball needs to move away from these multi-division tournaments and more towards something that resembles a season. i don't expect something like an NBA, NFL, NHL, or MLB season to come out of NPPL just like that, but thats where paintball needs to be headed.

enuff with this cumulative points system to determine who wins tourneys. there needs to be a system based on wins and loses. and it should all build up to a final elimination between the top teams, possibly at World Cup.

enuff with the variety. don't play both 5-man AND 10-man games. choose one and stick with it. you don't see professional basketball being played with 5-man one day and 2-on-2 the next.

enuff with the "pro" teams. i wanna see REAL pro teams. players that are really payed, not just funded. perhaps if we limited each company to funding one team, they could actually fully support that team. just an idea.

TELEVISION!!! that is SO essential if paintball is to grow. NPPL really, really, really needs to strike a deal with ESPN to televise its tournaments. i mean, c'mon...i see the most boring stuff on ESPN (opinion, if you love it, please don't stone me)! pool, fishing, bowling, karate chopping blocks, even stuff like log-cutting and heavy ball-lifting. i'm sure paintball could get better ratings than that!

well, that's all i can think about at the moment. what do you guys think?

[FooTemps]

I like how popular paintball is right now. I don't want the world to overflow with paintball. Small friendly sport with a commnunity of players. Newbs here and there are great but having a field day with just newbs is too much. I'm still sort of a newb but I've played with complete newbs and it would suck we we had more than 2 fields filled with them at all times...

[Restola]

actually nascar is bigger than football. when was the last time 200,000 people showed up to an ordinary mid-season football game? football standiums cant hold that many because there is no demand.

[gmag]

Paintball will never be as big as football because of the ridiculous prices. Its always been easier for a kid to pick up a football and throw it to their buddy then for them to pick up a paintball marker, buy paintballs, buy air, drive to the field, get all their gear on and go play.

[Mantis]

As for the TV thing, I have to agree with Fong. Look at some of the absolute crap that's on TV now. It wouldn't take much for paintball to be more exciting to watch than some of this.
The other day somebody was telling me they saw an indoor field that had a see through roof, so people could stand above the field and see everything happen. Combine that with a couple oblique overall cameras, some gun or helmet cams, and specific bunker cams, and a TV director guy with a modicum of talent should be able to splice that into a fairly exciting show. Then we just need a guy with one of those pens drawing all over the screen with stupid commentary...

[Magsrule3]

Well right now there is over 6,000,000 players world wide. Only about a eigth of that play in tourneys.

[cphilip]

Originally posted by Army
Paintball as big as football? That's gonna take a really big gun...

Man!!! Army beat me to it! Exactly what came to my mind when I read the title.

Not realy a big Marker though Army...big hoppers and big barrels for sure. Imagine the cost of a case of those things? And I think Hopper ball would become the norm. :D

[TigerMan]

Well the ESPN thing goes deeper than just striking a deal with them. And as for them cutting some shows, they won't be cutting bowling anytime soon. Bowling is a sport that gets some of the highest ratings on cable. And Restola, I highly doubt NASCAR is more popular than football. Take college football for example, only 2 reasons why you don't see more people in the stadiums is because 1 they're out of seats and 2 they're aren't more students at the schools. You'll be hard pressed to find any good Division I college game without a sellout crowd, they're always packed. NASCAR gets great crowds, but look at how big the speedtracks are, they are huge and you have the whole league coming to one event, not having the whole league spread out playing mutliple games.

[media]

As long as a paintball commentator is nothing like John Madden. No single announcer has annoyed me more or actually made me watch something else like he has.

[bofh]

Football is bigger than NASCAR... and I'll prove it.

During the season... NASCAR will have a 200,000 person stadium sold out each weekend, the entire league will show up and race... so 200,000 people a weekend. Call it three leagues, (Winston Cup, Busch, and Craftsman Truck) not counting the weekly serieses. (Busch North, Winston West et al.) So three major leagues, each with a 200,000 (estimates) brings a total of 600,000 people a week

The NFL, only has about 60,000 people in a stadium. But, each weekend, there are 15 active stadiums. Each stadium has an average of 60,000. (yes some have more, I'm estimating) So each weekend, 900,000 show up to a professional football game. Not counting College football.

Which is more popular?

btw, I don't think Paintball will ever be as big as either of them.

media, I guess you missed out on Howard Cosell?