PSP/NPPL 2013 Event Schedule Discussion

by
PSP NPPL Logo

Over the course of the last week, both leagues released their tentative schedules for the 2013 season. If you play tournament ball, you’re aware of this. You might even have your tix booked for HB or Dallas.

For the sake of a one-stop reference for both event lists, we’ll lay them out here. Without further ado…

2013 PSP Schedule:
Event #1 – Confirmed
PSP Dallas Open
March 15 – 17, 2013
Cousins Paintball, Forney, TX

Event #2 – Tentative
May 3 – 5, 2013
Details coming soon

Event #3 – Confirmed
PSP Chicago Open
June 20 – 23, 2013
CPX Sports Park, Joliet, IL

Event #4 – Tentative
August 16 – 18, 2013
Details coming soon

Event #5 – Confirmed
PSP World Cup
October 17 – 20, 2013
Fantasy of Flight, Polk City, FL

2013 NPPL Schedule:
Event #1
Huntington Beach – April 12, 13 and 14 – HB Pier Plaza
www.surfcityusa.com

Event #2
Tampa Bay – June 7, 8, 9 – Raymond James Stadium
www.tampasportsauthority.com

Event #3
Denver – August 16, 17, 18 – Dicks Sporting Goods Park
www.dickssportinggoodspark.com

Event #4
Las Vegas – October 4, 5 and 6 – Las Vegas Convention Center
www.lvcva.com

Opinions are meant to be shared, qualms to be aired, props to be given, hype to be built. So what’s the general consensus on this year’s schedules? I’ve got a couple first impressions based on the facts surrounding each release. I make these observations completely independent of what the “other guy” is doing: nonpartisan, non-comparison. Not looking for NPPL vs PSP banter, instead separately rooted examination.

  • Conflicting dates for PSP [mystery] event #4 and NPPL Denver. Is this a decisive power move by the PSP to wound the NPPL, or just a case of sloppy coordinating from PSP higher ups?…
  • On January 6th PSP released a statement through social media to “disregard any dates listed elsewhere as the PSP has NOT officially set any of the 2013 event dates”, as they would be posted, “as soon as everything is finalized”. On January 14th we got an official release, where in the comments Lane Wright noted, “We had a West Coast event leading off the year and it fell apart last minute.”  In examining time stamps, does this mean the timeline between failing to finalize their most pressing event (West Coast season opener) and committing to (and coordinating, etc.) Dallas as a fallback was about one week? Or was Dallas originally slated as the 2nd event, thus the reason for the vacancy after its “bump up” to opener?
  • PSP officially released their schedule via social media with slogan headline “PSP 2013: Going Big”. Talk about a mess of incongruities/conflicts in branding. By examining the full press release, apparently it was decided that holding the first event in Dallas (“Everything bigger in Texas”, city slogan of “Big things happen here”) was grounds for defining the branded identity of their entire season. An entire season [that as of now only exists in the confines of that “Going Big” press release] where:
    1. only 3/5ths is actually worked out
    2. its opening stop is clearly an emergency move
    3. the other two listed stops are anticipated repeats from the previous seasons
    4. a tentative date overlaps with what could be a marquee West Coast draw for the NPPL

    Probably should have spent a bit longer on the drawing board before committing to that
    one, huh?

  • NPPL lands “high profile” out-of-industry venues, PSP continues trend of leasing local playing fields. NPPL running themselves dry in the bank, or capitalizing on good business practices?  PSP making grassroots statement about supporting the core of our industry, or just being stingy?
  • Tampa Bay Damage officially announces pull-out from NPPL, post-2013 schedule announcement. Heavily rumored that 2-3 other Pro teams to follow suit. So, who fills the void? Is this the “windup” of a knockout left hook to the NPPL, after at least a few “rounds” of getting pummeled by the opponent?
  • Where will the PSP land to fill their tentative dates? MAO, NJO, NEO, SoCal.. VEGAS?

There’s a few pieces of thought food. Now you try. What do you think of the schedules as they stand now? Rep your region. Hype who’s gonna win what. What’s got you stoked, what’s got you bummed?