To learn more about Tampa Bay Damage, be sure to check out TBDamage.com and follow them on Facebook. Results for the event will be posted tomorrow morning.

Photo Credit: SplatXD

NPPL Huntington Beach Team Registration Closes At Midnight Tonight!

Attention all paintballers! The registration deadline for the 2010 NPPL Huntington Beach Surf City Open is today!  Team registration officially close at 11:59pm tonight, so don’t delay if you haven’t signed up for the premier paintball tournament of the year.

All teams that register by tonight get their name listed on the official HB t-shirt, plus you can save $20.00 on ID cards by purchasing them before midnight instead of waiting to pay the day of the event.

What can you expect at the Surf City Open?

• 14 Pro Teams To Cheer For
• Huge Vendor Area
• Free LIVE Webcast Hosted by Nicky T
• Three Days of Endless Spring Break Paintball Partying
• On-site Team Photographers
• Heaven Comes Back to the VIP Area (Tickets Now Available)
• Thousands of Dollars in Free Giveaways

There are very few remaining spots in each division left and all teams are encouraged to complete their registration ASAP before it is too late.  Nearby hotels are also filling up quickly, so please make your accommodations right away.

For more information, please see NPPL.com.

Baca Loco over at View from the deadbox has some very intersting updates regarding the state of the NPPL. Check out the stories “Time to put a fork in the NPPL?” & “Race-To the Big Picture“.

Talk has been circulating that Adam & Billy Gardner of Smart Parts & All Americans fame may have left G.I. Milsim to refocus their efforts with Smart Parts. Fear not .50cal fans, the Italia’s are hard at work and word has it that the first .50 cal paintball markers will be released near the end of January.

Word on the street has it that Smart Parts is working on securing a line of funding and plans to reopen operations in the near future.

Updated 12/31/09 with a statement and clarification from Craig Miller of Ultimate Airball.

ProPaintball.com inside sources are reporting that bunker manufacturer Ultimate Airball is gearing up for a legal campaign against Sup’Air / AdrenalineGames and possibly US-based leagues utilizing the SupAir products.

As far as we can tell, the issue with the paintball leagues is the use, display and “promotion” of patent-infringing products. Back in 2007, Ultimate Airball was granted Patent # 7,223,185 for a “hide behind bunker system and kit with impact dampening anchors”.

Sup’Air Adrenaline Games first introduced inflatable air bunkers in 1997 in Toulouse, bringing tournament paintball out of the woods and onto the turf. While this moment is a sure landmark in paintball history, this lawsuit could mark interesting times ahead for AdrenalineGames / Sup’Air.

From the looks of the Ultimate Airball website, things are starting to heat up:

Today, Ultimate Airball® is proceeding to successfully defend their Patent through amicable licensing agreements, and has returned to full production of the toughest inflatable bunkers ever made, and the dealers and field operators have collectively applauded the return of Ultimate Airball®!

Judging by the list of customers on the Sup’Air ball website; affected leagues may include the USPL, PSP, RPL, CFOA, WCPPL, GPL, and the NCPA.

Potentially, the concept of “use, display and promotion” could be applied to paintball parks as well, including but not limited to CPX, Giant Paintball Parks, Pev’s, CFP, etc.

Update 12/31/09: Craig Miller has informed us that Brimstone & Ultimate Airball have no intention of going after the paintball parks themselves.

While the details have yet to arrive as to the result of the Ultimate Airball licensing agreement, this could spell rising tournament and field fees worldwide. Stay tuned to ProPaintball.com for updates as this story unfolds.

Update 12/31/09: Craig Miller filled us in on the delay between being granted the patent and enforcement of the intellectual property:

The reason for our delay in defending our Patent is because we spent
more than a year negotiating with our competitor, which resulted
in a mutually agreeable legal arrangement, which was signed in
Washington DC, but the competitor almost immediately breached
the agreement and failed to fulfill their signed, legal obligations.
This left us no more choices.

The fact is, Brimstone is looking for absolutely nothing that is not
ours. The Paintball industry is funny regarding patents and
intellectual property. It is a cottage industry full of opportunities
for inventors and designers, many of whom begin as players. So,
you’d think that the player base would want to protect their own,
and show loyalty to inventors that come up with a “better mousetrap”
that improves the game.

But sometimes, it seems to be the reverse. We’re a company of
players. At 52, I still play at big games and scenarios every year.
Our original labor force was a Team – Brimstone Smoke. So when
a foreign company failed to compete with our improved tubeless
system and finally contracted with China to illegally make carbon
copy knock-offs of our much better design, it seems that players
would side with us, the originators.

– Craig Miller, UA

Exclusive ProPaintball.com Press Release:

Dynasty Entourage, winners of the 2009 USPL Semi-pro series and all four events of the USPL will be graduating from the Dynasty farm system and unit. Team Entourage will be based out of Newport Beach and will be competing in the 2010 USPL PRO Division as well as the 2010 PSP semi-pro X-ball division and elements of the team will be at various scenario events through out the United States. After four years of being Dynasty Entourage and winning more events then any other single team through out those years in their division the students feel its time to face the masters, and will be competing at the highest level of paintball one can play. World Famous Entourage will also be the flagship team for JT USA, supporting and wearing the all new 2010 line up of JT pants, JT goggles, JT arm pads, JT knee pads, JT jerseys, JT gloves, and JT gear bags. World Famous Entourage will be using Custom team tanks from Guerilla Air along with new 2010 Empire Prophecies. World Famous Entourage will also be the newest member to the Bob Long family and will be shooting the all new 2010 Bob Long Victory LE gun, fully equipped with Tadao OLED Boards, Violent Products Triggers and Magnum Regs. The team will also be Giant Paintballs Factory team with a team stadium built at Hollywood Sports Park. Along with these sponsors World Famous Entourage will also be sponsored by GEN X GLOBAL. The team feels that with competitive practicing and efficient training methods which have worked so far so good for the team that they will be able to handle the step up in the divisions as well as compete at the highest level. The 2010 line up will consist of Mark Lack, Tyler Shelton, Ronnie Filippone, Raney Stanzcak , Ryan Collette, Ryan Martin, Dalton Vanderbyl, Kekoa Ferguson, and the newest member to the team Bear D’Egidio. With that said the team looks to have an exciting season and thanks all fans and support they have been given over the years. World Famous Entourage looks to have an exciting year with so many events and new companies supporting them the opportunities seem endless and stay tuned for any new information regarding the team and updates on our new PBNation Professional team thread.

— END

BallersCafe has a great interview with Giovanni D’Egidio talking about Entourage, the sponsorships, and rumor that Scott Kressin of HKArmy may be joining the X-ball team. Be sure to check it out here.

PSP Rumor of the day: Word has it that the PSP is considering changing the restricted paint color to yellow as it “doesn’t stain grounds or bunkers as badly”. Don’t stress out, the PSP has a proven track record when it comes to communicating changes ahead of time via email announcements. Speaking of the PSP, they are considering moving back to 5 events. If so, the PSP must find the best locations for all five events because the money factor comes into play and enough revenue must be made at each stop to keep the league afloat to ensure more seasons to come.

USPL Rumor of the day: Sources tell us that the USPL is asking their pro team owners for another round of capitalization & 2010 entry fee’s. No word on what, if any, extra funding the league is looking for. Insiders feel free to leave it in the comments.

As far as the pro paintball teams go, we continue to hear reports from the field that teams are busy evaluating their current and prospective players and negotiating with their sponsors. As the 2010 season nears, it will be interesting to find out who will be playing where, and which players will find themselves teamless or lowering divisions.

As the 2009 season final events have concluded, we will see many end of year write-ups surface as people give their perspective of how things played out for them. Now, i’d like to share with you Mike’s view on the 2009 PSP World Cup and the 2009 USPL Las Vegas events. Check out the view from behind the lens in the full edition here.

Great work to Mike and all other hands on deck for this project! Be sure to stop by and check out previous photobooks over at Chrono300.com.

An Open Letter from the Information Merchant:

In an ideal world there would be two national (US) paintball leagues and both would be able to support themselves and further the sport. That is an ideal world. Given the realities and constraints of this world, consolidation and unification is the only option for national-level paintball (the feasibility of a regionalized structure is out of bounds in this letter, as I hope we all want a platform for national competition). To that end, I would like to humbly ask you to ask yourself, “Is what I am doing really best for paintball?”

I don’t know if 7-man will die without the USPL. I do know that the USPL isn’t saving it. The league is alienating the support base with sub-par events and is “proving” 7man to be unsustainable as a national circuit. I don’t know if that is a false-positive, but after the failures of Pure Promotions and Pacific Paintball, and now the USPL with the combined strengths of Chuck, Tom, Bart and all the other intelligent and/or experienced individuals putting their efforts towards that league, 7man’s inability to be run successfully at the national level will be a given. The longer the USPL exists, the harder it will be for another 7man league to start up in the future. (And this ignores the rumblings that the USPL is moving to a match-based format of play, so even the saviors of 7man are going nontraditional to try to save their league. Put another way, the league formed to save 7man is rumored to be forsaking 7man in order to save the league).

It is irresponsible to suggest that it is our duty, as paintballers, to (blindly) support paintball in all its forms and formats. Supporting all of paintball, as it is today, is hurting the sport. It is dividing our (very limited) resources is bad for our sport. We have enough companies (i.e. sponsors) and enough teams interested in national competition to support one league. All we accomplish by splitting up is to create distraction, diffuse resources and prevent any one group from pulling itself up, not to mention the increasing likelihood, if not actually probability, that we will cause both leagues to fail.

I can’t help but think about what could have been done this year if we had unified under one banner and really supported the sport. The PSP probably lost $100,000 to $150,000 in entrance fees to the USPL and another $100,000 in sponsorship. Imagine what the PSP could have done with that;

• 

  NPPL Championship Paintball on XBOX 360

  Right now $100,000 people are out of work and taking $50,000 jobs. The PSP could have hired a salesmen, a PR rep, to approach non-endemic sponsors, something the NPPL was having moderate success with (Army, Marines, video game industry, energy drinks, car companies…). There is no saying whether this would have borne any fruit. If not, it is $50,000 lost, but if so, it would have been that much more money and exposure coming into paintball, that much more mainstream attention coming into paintball.

• 

  Will webcasting take paintball to the next level?

  The PSP could have expanded their webcast. The PSP webcast is our best avenue for attracting new national players. with more cameras,more interviews, more content, more statistics, it would have been an even greater draw. The more people who watch, the more people who have an increased likelihood to play.

The PSP could have put more effort into getting all the regional leagues around the country behind them, creating one unified structure. This could have involved getting pro teams to attend those events, to promote the PSP and X-Ball (and themselves). This effort may have involved donating entrance fees to the prize packages of the regional events. These activities would help the regional leagues attract more players (thereby making more money). It would get more local players into the sport, helping local stores and fields. And it would further increase the likelihood that some of those teams end up playing the PSP. We need to introduce the best regional teams to the PSP if we hope to continue to have a PSP. This is all part of the larger unification of paintball.

We could have had more teams and better events with better webcasts which would make paintball more attractive to sponsors, who could have been courted by a full time professional salesperson. We would have given back to the players, to the sponsors, to the regional leagues and to the sport. And we would have taken some steps towards unifying paintball across the country. And in so doing we would have helped local stores and fields and leagues and local players.

That is the opportunity cost of the USPL, right there. The damage that has been done may be irreversible (will Rockstar ever come back with a $90,000 sponsorship proposal?).

Sit back, all you owners of USPL pro teams, all you divisional teams supporting the format, all one tourist teams looking for a good time playing one national event per year, sit back and ask if what you are doing will lead us down the road where this all goes away? I believe it does. I believe it will. I hope you reconsider the blind support of paintball in all its glory and restrict yourself to only supporting paintball that helps support the sport.

1st- San Diego Dynasty
2nd- Oakland Blast
3rd- Edmonton Impact
4th- Infamous

This was the first win for Dynasty in a series which til now has been all about DC Arsenal.  The Vegas finale showed no love to the now former series leader DC Arsenal. The team received two penalties that pulled them from the runnings; the first for an illegal gun, and the second for unsportsmanlike conduct which ultimately placed the team in 12th. Their poor performance at the NPPL Vegas event ultimately cost them the series title. Wow.

Stay tuned for the official Pro Paintball photo galleries from the event, courtesy of Robert Abitia.