I need to preface any remarks by this. The Owners Group Division that Kevin organized was the most fun I have ever had in a tournament. It also had a level of sportsmanship and fair play that I never honestly expected to see ever. The reffing was absolutely stellar, the tournament and the days around it will go down as some of my best memories in paintball. I told Kevin when I left this year that I would be there next year, mean that, the OG positives far outshone the negatives that the promotors of IAO seemed to put out there.
The list:
The vendors: Notably missing: Dye, WDP, K2, Planet Eclipse, to name a few. I don't blame them, I have heard rumors of ridiculous prices to set up, and the fact of the matter is there was not much traffic.
The fields: Ok, one of the fields (that we played OG on) sucked. It was neither grassy nor level, in fact it seemed to be on a parking lot with 8-10 foot wide gravel strips on it, on the tape line where low movement and sliding where critical. The back corner was so far down a hill that it could not see the opposite tape line. I do not think any of the fields were uniformly (or even reasonably) grassy and level. Further, the refs had to go blow up four or five bunkers about every three games because they leaked so much.
The paint: Now, any problems I had with Hellfire in my mag are 100% my fault, I should have known better. The Blaze was extremely bouncey - perhaps it always is, though I am told the Inferno was ok (did not use it myself). That being said I watched a pallet left outside, in the sun an entire day. The paint prices $75 for Blaze are utterly ridiculous, especially when a title sponsor is Draxxus. I'm not against a profit, but how much money are the organizers of this event making?
The organization: Remember, that none of this applies to the OG. Kevin was very well organized, and kept things rolling at a comfortable pace. I watched the 7 man one day where they were almost an hour ahead of the printed schedule. I watched them tell one team that they had to be on field early or forfeit, that team hurried so much they went out a marker short. They played seven man on two fields, surely not a good turnout...
The price: I said that I would play OG anywhere, despite the cost, because it was that great. I feel that the organizers took financial advantage of the players of the owners group. I'll drop the gauntlet - Kevin made the owners group, Kevin and the founding teams - I'm going where they are, be it IAO or any other venue. I'll pay the price to play with these great people, whatever it is, but I feel absolutely no loyalty to IAO. I never was given figures, I did hear some rumors, and I think that IAO charged Kevin plenty per team to allow us to play at IAO. BTW - the sponsors of the OG, I am very grateful to, but I dare say that there loyalty is to Kevin, and not IAO. My point is, the IAO promotors (I think) made good money off the OG - and they are minimal in its draw towards its players or sponsors. Thats my opinion, again I really do not know anything certain here.
Had I been there for IAO and "normal" competition, I would be very unhappy with it. I was not, Kevin, the players, and those associated with the OG, made this one of my greatest paintball experiences ever. I give absolutely no credit for that to the IAO - in fact I think you guys detracted from it, I give it 100% to Kevin, the OG sponsors, the OG players, and the refs (the only good thing supplied by IAO - and I doubt there fully loyal to them either).
The list:
The vendors: Notably missing: Dye, WDP, K2, Planet Eclipse, to name a few. I don't blame them, I have heard rumors of ridiculous prices to set up, and the fact of the matter is there was not much traffic.
The fields: Ok, one of the fields (that we played OG on) sucked. It was neither grassy nor level, in fact it seemed to be on a parking lot with 8-10 foot wide gravel strips on it, on the tape line where low movement and sliding where critical. The back corner was so far down a hill that it could not see the opposite tape line. I do not think any of the fields were uniformly (or even reasonably) grassy and level. Further, the refs had to go blow up four or five bunkers about every three games because they leaked so much.
The paint: Now, any problems I had with Hellfire in my mag are 100% my fault, I should have known better. The Blaze was extremely bouncey - perhaps it always is, though I am told the Inferno was ok (did not use it myself). That being said I watched a pallet left outside, in the sun an entire day. The paint prices $75 for Blaze are utterly ridiculous, especially when a title sponsor is Draxxus. I'm not against a profit, but how much money are the organizers of this event making?
The organization: Remember, that none of this applies to the OG. Kevin was very well organized, and kept things rolling at a comfortable pace. I watched the 7 man one day where they were almost an hour ahead of the printed schedule. I watched them tell one team that they had to be on field early or forfeit, that team hurried so much they went out a marker short. They played seven man on two fields, surely not a good turnout...
The price: I said that I would play OG anywhere, despite the cost, because it was that great. I feel that the organizers took financial advantage of the players of the owners group. I'll drop the gauntlet - Kevin made the owners group, Kevin and the founding teams - I'm going where they are, be it IAO or any other venue. I'll pay the price to play with these great people, whatever it is, but I feel absolutely no loyalty to IAO. I never was given figures, I did hear some rumors, and I think that IAO charged Kevin plenty per team to allow us to play at IAO. BTW - the sponsors of the OG, I am very grateful to, but I dare say that there loyalty is to Kevin, and not IAO. My point is, the IAO promotors (I think) made good money off the OG - and they are minimal in its draw towards its players or sponsors. Thats my opinion, again I really do not know anything certain here.
Had I been there for IAO and "normal" competition, I would be very unhappy with it. I was not, Kevin, the players, and those associated with the OG, made this one of my greatest paintball experiences ever. I give absolutely no credit for that to the IAO - in fact I think you guys detracted from it, I give it 100% to Kevin, the OG sponsors, the OG players, and the refs (the only good thing supplied by IAO - and I doubt there fully loyal to them either).
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