thinking about opening a field in western Ma. and I need your help

[magmonkey]

AO I need your help,

I am thinking about opening a outdoor field in western Ma.
and what I need from you is a top ten best/worst ideas you have seen at fields around you.

I have had the thought of opening a place for quite some time now, however a lot of paintball places come and go and very few stick around ...I want to be one of the places that makes it, so any input would be greatly appreciated

gliney the mag monkey

[HoppysMag]

well there are only a few fields in W MA... so you should be set in terms of dealing with competition... but please tell more about what kinda field you would be opening.

[TigerMan]

Before opening and investing a field in a certain area, poll the area and get an idea of what the perspective of paintball is and if it can suceed in the area. Make sure the base of players and a good youth populus is there too.

Best Ideas
-Offer a good, clean family fun environment.
-Offer reasonable prices
-Have both woods and speedball if possible (to appeal to all)
-Always promote safety and make sure players know it's the #1 rule.
-Find cost effective ways to promote your field, such as coupons, ads, etc.
-Have like one day out of the week where their's a special on paint, field fee and air.
-Make sure there's a proper chrono
-Train your staff well

Bad Ideas
-Don't show favoritism towards certain groups
-Don't have staff members that are rude or unproper or unfair to customers and players
-Not having certain materials or bathrooms
-Not having drinks or snacks (good idea for extra money and good idea for players as they need to be hydrated)

[Automaggin2]

please, please, pleeeeeeeeeease dont use little kids for refs.

they are:
1) horrible at reffing
2) lazy
3) scared
4) annoying

Make sure you ahve a highly trained reffing staff and....hyperball....gotta have hyperball!

[Rmarks]

- Have more than one type of paintballs available. I hate having to pay $80 a case for crappy paint.

- I know the field I play sends out a newsletter to their players every so often that has coupons inside them(usually 1 free admission).

- watch your refs closely. Some refs can really turn people away from coming to your field again.

- Have lockers in the staging area so people know their stuff isn't being stolen while they're on the field.

[WARPED1]

Western Mass is thee worst place to open a field or store,I lived there 27 years,no one in the area is accepting paintball,your best bet is to move to Albany NY and open there.Why I moved to Florida,more play time.

[nospmas311]

Hey, thats a great idea. I play at the field Hoppy plays and refs at. I can't really recommend a location becuase I've only played at Agawam Paintball and Executive Paintball in Hadley. You should keep it around Springfield or like 20 minutes from it so you get the most people. Also, make sure you have real bathrooms and lockers. Thats all I can really say.

[ß.C.]

How west are you gonna go?! Way west? Just make sure there are plenty of porter potties if thats what you plan to do. It'd be great to have running water availible too because sometimes a guy really needs to clean off his mask(we've all been there right?) Oh yea, and the promotion of pump guns would be pretty cool, you could sell co2 grams for money too now that people aren't paying $100 for a case of paint.

[magmonkey]

one of the possible locations for the field is in dearfield about 3 mins from rte 91
on 11 acres of field
I am thinking about three fields

one sup air
one hyper (or tire equiv.)
and possibly one natrual

as for the reffing it will probably be taken care of by my team. all level headed nice to deal with people.

I called on the cost of porta potty rentals and am expecting a reply soon.

I really think think I could do all right in wmass
because this half of the state is a bit starved for fields at the moment.

and for the guys who played at exec.... I am the guy who used to airsmith for them durring the week until the mall pushed them out.

thank everybody so far and please keep the ideas coming

[nospmas311]

Yea, dearfield would be like a 30-40 minute drive but hey, if its a good field than its worth it. I'm in Longmeadow so pretty much right ont he border of connecticut.

[magmonkey]

my first idea was to open a field closer to my home but the price and location is right on the land in dearfield

I live in easthampton

[WARPED1]

The real western mass is the berkdhires,Easthampton is central mass,get a map.:)

[nospmas311]

He probably lives in the western part of easthampton so don't give him the map lesson for he wants his field in Deerfield. Anyway, I don't care where it is, as long as it's no closer to Greenfield becuase than its just too much of a trip every weekend.

[ShooterJM]

I'd gauge interest and turn out then maybe rent lights for a summer night game. Put em up over the speedball field. That gets big turnout here.

Also, make one night experiance players friendly. ie cheaper paint. Or low field fee. There's a place that does that around here and it's doing really well. Your lost field fee comes back due to higher amounts of air and paint bought. Not to mention it becomes sort of a meeting place for teams and players. You have to police it though, make sure you're not throwing a bunch of newbies to a pack of sharks. :cool:

[FutureMagOwner]

yeesh im in rhode island and only know where cape cod and boston is...

i recommend you do events every once in a while(like once a month) that people can win stuff in or tournaments and so on