The real issue behind the change in the industry is the FIELDS!
With the number of players today, you would think that there would be larger fields to cater to them. When you think about it, though, we're left with local fields with one or two courses catering to a handful of players each. Obviously speedball fields are easier to build and maintain and encourage more liberal paint use. That doesn't mean that large woodsball fields aren't out there, they're just harder to find in some areas. Especially those areas where property values and taxes are high. The nearest local field to me is actually built in a swamp because that's the only place that was economically feasable because homes couldn't be built there. Land costs are high, thus speedball fields are becoming more common. As a result, the sport is becoming less newbie-friendly. Large fields are the lifeblood of the industry and they are few and far between (Plus it costs at least $35/day to rent equipment and play there - that's a lot of money, people.)
Think of another sport with high land area requirements, expensive equipment, a 'stigma' associated with the professionals of the sport and an ever-growing popularity... Golf!
You can easily spend $100 for a round of golf without even trying. If you use two sleeves of balls at $10 a pop plus $50 worth of greens fees and add in other expenses, it's not cheap. A good set of clubs can well exceed the $2000 mark and that's not even counting shoes, clothes and other items needed to play. With high land requirements and everything else thrown in, it looks a LOT like paintball. Only it isn't. What's the difference? ADVERTIZING!
Golf is advertized to a demographic that has money and is willing to spend it even if just for the status that playing golf offers, whether they are good or not. Golf has heroes as well and an international competition between them. Paintball has neither advertizing nor heroes. Ask anyone on the street if they know who *tourney player name* is and they'll look at you like a deer in headlights. Then ask them if they know who Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson is. Ask them if they can remember anything about a Tippmann 98c. Now ask them if they know what a 'Big Bertha' is.
So ok, why compare a small, basically fledgling sport like Paintball with something like golf that has hundreds of years of history and a hundred times greater market size? To both point the way and also give hope. Golf is a rediculous game that nobody in their right mind should want to play. Even those who play the sport fully admit this. Yet it's amazingly popular and turns billions of dollars in revenue every year. It could be argued that paintball could easily grow to such popularity. There's hope because if golf can do it, paintball certainly can!
More poignantly, we need to know how to bring the sport to that level. It's going to take one thing and one thing only: Good advertizing. The market is out there and waiting. The only advertizing for paintball is through paintball magazines and paintball-related websites. More people know about paintball through the sporting goods section at Wal-Mart than they do from a magazine ad. It's only going to take one brave company to stand up, take the lead and advertize sub-$100 full player's packages of decent quality through a large medium.
Sports Illustrated ran an article on the history of paintball a few months ago. It was a fantastic, well-written article and got the reader very interested in paintball. Good publicity, you may say. But what surprised me is that there was not one single advertizement for a paintball field, company or manufacturer in the entire magazine. I understand that an ad in SI is very pricey, but it would only take one. In fact, all it would have taken is a line that read, "For information on buying paintball equipment, go to www.______.com"
The industry missed a big opportunity there and perhaps, just perhaps, it's not quite time yet. If we want paintball to grow, like anything else it needs to be advertized. When the time comes, we'll see an advertizement for a paintball company in a national-exposure format. On that day, paintball's popularity will explode once again. Until it is advertized widely, paintball will experience the same problems it always has.
With the number of players today, you would think that there would be larger fields to cater to them. When you think about it, though, we're left with local fields with one or two courses catering to a handful of players each. Obviously speedball fields are easier to build and maintain and encourage more liberal paint use. That doesn't mean that large woodsball fields aren't out there, they're just harder to find in some areas. Especially those areas where property values and taxes are high. The nearest local field to me is actually built in a swamp because that's the only place that was economically feasable because homes couldn't be built there. Land costs are high, thus speedball fields are becoming more common. As a result, the sport is becoming less newbie-friendly. Large fields are the lifeblood of the industry and they are few and far between (Plus it costs at least $35/day to rent equipment and play there - that's a lot of money, people.)
Think of another sport with high land area requirements, expensive equipment, a 'stigma' associated with the professionals of the sport and an ever-growing popularity... Golf!
You can easily spend $100 for a round of golf without even trying. If you use two sleeves of balls at $10 a pop plus $50 worth of greens fees and add in other expenses, it's not cheap. A good set of clubs can well exceed the $2000 mark and that's not even counting shoes, clothes and other items needed to play. With high land requirements and everything else thrown in, it looks a LOT like paintball. Only it isn't. What's the difference? ADVERTIZING!
Golf is advertized to a demographic that has money and is willing to spend it even if just for the status that playing golf offers, whether they are good or not. Golf has heroes as well and an international competition between them. Paintball has neither advertizing nor heroes. Ask anyone on the street if they know who *tourney player name* is and they'll look at you like a deer in headlights. Then ask them if they know who Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson is. Ask them if they can remember anything about a Tippmann 98c. Now ask them if they know what a 'Big Bertha' is.
So ok, why compare a small, basically fledgling sport like Paintball with something like golf that has hundreds of years of history and a hundred times greater market size? To both point the way and also give hope. Golf is a rediculous game that nobody in their right mind should want to play. Even those who play the sport fully admit this. Yet it's amazingly popular and turns billions of dollars in revenue every year. It could be argued that paintball could easily grow to such popularity. There's hope because if golf can do it, paintball certainly can!
More poignantly, we need to know how to bring the sport to that level. It's going to take one thing and one thing only: Good advertizing. The market is out there and waiting. The only advertizing for paintball is through paintball magazines and paintball-related websites. More people know about paintball through the sporting goods section at Wal-Mart than they do from a magazine ad. It's only going to take one brave company to stand up, take the lead and advertize sub-$100 full player's packages of decent quality through a large medium.
Sports Illustrated ran an article on the history of paintball a few months ago. It was a fantastic, well-written article and got the reader very interested in paintball. Good publicity, you may say. But what surprised me is that there was not one single advertizement for a paintball field, company or manufacturer in the entire magazine. I understand that an ad in SI is very pricey, but it would only take one. In fact, all it would have taken is a line that read, "For information on buying paintball equipment, go to www.______.com"
The industry missed a big opportunity there and perhaps, just perhaps, it's not quite time yet. If we want paintball to grow, like anything else it needs to be advertized. When the time comes, we'll see an advertizement for a paintball company in a national-exposure format. On that day, paintball's popularity will explode once again. Until it is advertized widely, paintball will experience the same problems it always has.
) I'd say that firms need to do market studies and find where the growth is and what the users stats are. I personally don't know. Could be that 70% of the volume is done at the under $300 category, I have no idea. But customer and market knowledge; knowing how they make decisions and what they value, are going to be critical in a time where technology is all "good enough" and there is little true differentiation.
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