POLL: Should paintball be in the X-Games?

[paintballer187]

i think it would be cool to watch paintball on tv, especially on the x-games.

[raehl]

Well...

While I realize it's a fantasy of pretty much every paintballer to see their sport on TV ("See? It's not some wierd thing, it's a broadcast sport!") don't hold your breath on Paintball hitting the X-Games anytime soon. ESPN and Paintball simply do not get along.

Also, I don't want to see paintball on TV until I see *GOOD* paintball on TV. That means I don't want to see many of the antics I'm currently exposed to when I attend pro/am tournaments. The last thing we need is something like that old Skyball video where you get a nice close-up of a guy wiping broadcast on ESPN or wherever.

When you do first see paintball on TV, it'll almost certainly be as a stand-alone deal, taped and broadcast later. With any luck, it'll be the College National Championships, but hey, I'm biased. Just a little.

It's a bit of a catch-22 - you won't see paintball on TV until the TV people think there's an audience for it, and paintball on TV is a good way to create that audience. That's one reason the NCPA puts so much effort into getting students in high school and college interested in paintball, even if it's just recreationally - those are people who will have an interest in paintball programming later.

- Chris

[FooTemps]

Well... How would paintball become a spectator sport? It's sorta hard to make it understandable and interesting. It's kinda like le mans... It is hard to keep track and stay interested...

[sk8dood]

X-games haha. The X-Games is just a event to get higher ratings for ESPN and ABC. Thats why there is the Gravity Games now, all they are trying to do is get ratings. On the other hand, paintball would get some attention. And not to mention the prize money would be good. FooTemps- "How would paintball become a spectator sport? It's sorta hard to make it understandable and interesting." thats a good point. it would be hard to watch on TV. Well thats my .02

[raehl]

Well...

If people will watch golf, they'll watch anything.

As for spectator friendly, there are plenty of ways to change up paintball a bit to make it easier to follow on telivision - most sports have an object (usually "the ball") which is the focus of attention of the game. Paintball has the flag, but unfortunately, that pretty much just sits there for 95% of the time. There are plenty of ways to play paintball that are more TV friendly. I actually have a set of rules on the drawing board that I've put up on r.s.p. at least once to get some feedback on.

That all doesn't really matter though for a couple of reasons. First, the decision whether to watch a paintball broadcast is going to initially be made inside of three seconds. Either the person looking in their TV guide is going to go "Hrm, paintball, nifty." or "Paintball? What's that?". If you don't create an audience by getting people informed about paintball, you're never going to get anyone looking at the screen long enough to see any particular set of rules in action.

The other thing is a lot of people seem to run around thinking that when Paintball gets on TV there's suddenly going to be thousands more players. Why? Are there thousands more people around the country building battle bots? Doing roller derbys? Did the advent of the X-Games really push the popularity of Xtreme sports? I honestly think Skateboarding was much more popular 4-8 years ago than it is now. Roller blading has certainly taken a decline. Maybe part of that is Paintball's fault - it's much easier to be proficient at paintball than skateboarding or rollerblading. In any case, people usually pick up extreme sports (or sports in general) because it's what their friends are doing and what not. Soccer gets very little TV time, yet it's probably one of the most popular youth games in the country along with Baseball. If paintball really is going to hit the "big time" (in terms of participation at any rate) it'll be because we take it out of hiding in the backwoods and make it accessable and acceptable to people at a fairly young age. (I'm not saying woodsball is bad, just that you need to at least get people aware of how to get to woods fields - they're not exactly things you tend to drive by on a day-to-day basis. People drive by soccer fields all the time.) As it stands, I can count the number of officially recognized High School paintball clubs in this country on my fingers. That there are any at all is the result of the NCPA stepping up to get some going, four months ago there were none. College clubs are still a wee bit shy of 100. Those are DISMAL numbers in comparison to pretty much every other sport - including Rugby, Badmitton, Volleyball, Bowling, Skiing, Cross Country, even Fencing - you name it, that sport is doing a better job of cultivating young new players than Paintball is. Interestingly enough, they're all on TV too. Connection? I'd say so.

Unfortunately the industry is rather stuck in the "give money to competative teams and event promoters" mode. I can name at least twenty college clubs who each brought more new players into paintball last year than all of the pro teams combined - a fairly obvious statement to make considering I've never heard anyone say "Well, I've never played paintball, but after hearing about Pro Paintball Team X, I think I'll give it a shot", but that's something I doubt very many paintball companies consider. A fraction of the money currently given to people who already play paintball could work miracles in changing people who don't play paintball into people who do. Those are the people who are going to tune into paintball on TV, and those are the people advertisers are going to buy time during paintball programs to reach.

Some paintball companies do realize this - AKA has been supporting college paintball for years, and Diablo has recently become the first paintball company to pledge cash contributions. Challenge Park has all but given us free reign of their facilities to offer High School and College National Championships at $30/team, or $6/player, 50% off their recreational field fees. Actually, considering that includes free rec play the day after, you get a day of rec play at half price and a tournament for free. That's all a start, but there's a long way to go given the number of paintball companies and potential customers out there to be reached.

- Chris

[toymyster]

Remember folks: the more people play paintball, the higher the demand for paintball products, the higher the demand for said products, more companies will be providing these products, the more companies, the more competition, the more competition, the lower the prices!!! The lower the prices, the more we can play!!! Also, the more people play, there will be more fields opening!!! After all, who can complain at more people to shoot at, and more places to play???? Remember how much a case of paint cost 6 or 7 years ago, and how many choices we had??? Was it about $100 a case or there abouts, and only about 3 or 4 brands?? Now how much is paint, and how many brands??

[I LOVE MAGS !]

FOOTEMPS !!!!! how can u say the Le Mans is boring ? i love watching it !!!! o and i think paintball sould not be in the x-games even tho i would love to watch it but see they will ruin it like bad camera views and so on and people would be like dood this sport looks like crap and not play it u know ? and x-games would probably have some god damn annoucers and be annoying and bve like hey that guy has a rt pro mag but can it stand up to the opposites team angels and then be like o my god he just did a knee slid turn around !! and make up some trick to make the sport seem Xtreme and get peps to try stupid stuff i hope u guys gett wut im sayin how they would just water the sport down unless they got real paintballers to run the paintball show cuz they know and understand :0

[Vegeta]

Think about it.
It's like kindergarten. you and 2 friends ask the teacher to get out a toy. She says yes, if you be quiet. So you pull out a puzzle and start peicing it together. Some idiot comes along and says "Hey I wanna play!". So it's like.. ok.. sure.. but the, a few more peopel come, then more. Before long the entire class has a peice of hte puzzle in their hand wanting ot put it in. No fun.

Look at hte amount of feilds right now. I do not know abotu those who live in more populous areas, but the nearest feild to me it about 50 miles. You would need more feilds to accomodate the new players. And if you got 10 new kids with pumps who haev never played before, and are playing cuase they saw it on TV.. well.. thats trouble. Some don't have masks.. some don't know safety rules.

Yet, it would bring new players and new feilds eventually. I would love to see it on TV, to be honest.

[FooTemps]

Well, after watching le mans for about 1 hour I get bored... I watch the racing and it becomes all too predictable because I keep track of it too much. I get bored with it then stop... Then I flick back to it and watch something interesting happen like an accident or something dramatic like a car flipping over because of low downforce...

[DjGruv]

Although I think it would be cool, I don't think you will see pb in the X-games. The X-games are individual sports not team sports.

[I LOVE MAGS !]

footemps like the mercades flipping over the hill ? that was so sweet to watch and then the guy landed it !!!!

[rdb123]

Originally posted by Potatoboy
Now this i don't have any beef about. The X-Games are a perfect place for paintball.

Yeah, soon they'll have the woodlogging competition (or any of those Outdoors Games) too lol

-Ron

[MinimagRockin']

I voted yes, but I would much rather see the sport organized more before that happened. I think it would rule if, on the pro level at least, big cities and such had their own paintball teams and they played other teams throughout the country like football, etc. I think the way tourneys are run at present and the point system and all is really crappy.

[Automaggin2]

NO! X agmes is just stupid. Being in the underground bike scene, we see how the x games destroys our sport. It is all corporate. The soul purpose of the X games is money and fame. A lot of pro bikers have boycotted the x games because of what it does. It is a money maker for the industry and the bigger names in xtreme sports.

[digitard]

I think they should have a big paintball exhibition in the XGames one year, see how the fanbase for it goes and if it goes well then they should turn it into an event ... sort of a test year.

Yes its an extreme sport, so I think it should be part of it. .. but unlike sky surfing, skating, etc, you have to actually understand the game to enjoy it or at least enjoy the concept and you'll pick it up while watching ... from the spectator view its not as flashy/eye candyesque as watching a lot of extreme events.

Sincerely,
Dave K