NPPL – Page 16 – Paintball Headlines

US Paintball League Takes Back the NPPL; Moves to Four National Events in 2009

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA – April 29, 2009 – The US Paintball League (USPL) is committed to hosting great events and working to ensure that the schedule and venues are well planned and well executed. Following the successful season opener at Huntington Beach, the league has been speaking with many teams and evaluating the overall plan for 2009. After careful consideration, we have decided to adjust the schedule and the remaining venues to better suit the needs of our divisional team base and to better enable us to provide the best service to our customer base.

Effective immediately, USPL is rescheduling the PEVS DC Challenge and announcing that it will host three remaining events for 2009. By reducing the number of 2009 events to 4 total events, we will ensure that the level of quality and prestige remains as expected. This will also allow our teams the necessary time to recover between league events and to physically and financially prepare to compete in the USPL 7 Man Series.

Branding
The US Paintball League has purchased all the trade marks and rights to the National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) Super 7 World Series. Currently the US Paintball League will maintain the NPPL sanctioning rules and committees. The team members are in the process of deciding whether or not to use the NPPL name in the coming year.

Conferences
The Eastern and Western Conference titles for every division will be determined by each team’s top three scores (The DC Challenge in August must be included to win the Eastern Conference and the West Coast Open must be included to win the Western Conference). All 16 Professional teams will be competing in each event this season. DC Arsenal is currently leading the Eastern Pro Conference while San Diego Dynasty is leading the Western Pro Conference. The World Championships this October will be open to all teams as well as international teams looking to compete at the National level.

Event Prizes
The USPL will announce additional product and cash prizes on our web site May 10, 2009.

Series Prizes
A Series Prize Package will be announced for all Divisions which includes Free Entry into the 2010 Huntington Beach event (scheduled for April 9 – 11, 2010), as well as a gun sponsorship for all National Series 7man winners from Bob Long (more details coming May 10, 2009)!

DC Challenge Postponed
The DC Challenge has been postponed until August 28 – 30, 2009. If your team has already paid and registered for the DC Challenge, please phone the league at (714) 858-1923 or email [email protected] for details. USPL stands behind you, therefore, call us with questions and let us resolve any issues with teams needing reimbursements for changing flight schedules, hotel booking fees, etc.

New 2009 Schedule
Event 1: Surf City Open, Huntington Beach, CA – April 3 – 5, 2009 (Completed and a great success!)
Event 2: West Coast Open – Dates and Venue to be confirmed shortly
Event 3: DC Challenge, Pev’s Paintball Park, Aldie, VA – August 28 – 30, 2009 CONFIRMED
Event 4: World Championships, Las Vegas, NV – October 2 – 4, 2009 (Venue TBA)

National Paintball Scene: No More?

These are just some rumors I heard but if they turn out to be right then national tournaments in paintball could be no more.

The first rumor is that PSP could possibly be going under after MAO, as MAO could be the last PSP event. My source told me that PSP has a $300,000 debt and has not been able to pay it. PSP was hoping, since NPPL went bankrupt, that the Phoenix open and MAO would bring in more teams and help pay off their debt but the Phoenix open only brought in the average amount of teams and MAO will probably do the same.

The second rumor is that USPL Surf City Open in Huntington Beach may not happen either because not that many divisional teams have registered and paid. The fact that the event is held on the beach makes renting the venue expensive and with not enough teams, USPL can’t pay for it, so….

NPPL / Pacific Paintball Declare Bankruptcy

The NPPL, or really it’s parent/holding company, Pacific Paintball, which also has PB2X, Paintball.com, XPSL, and a couple of other things, is in the process of declaring Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. No Chapter 11 for them. Some VCs are probably pretty unhappy right now.

Basically, all of Pacific’s assets will be auctioned off, with all the capital being given to the creditors that Pacific couldn’t pay. Some person or group could get some good deals, assuming they can actually do something with them in the end.

There will also be a meeting for all the “big wigs” in Vegas. Mostly, I assume, about this and how to keep their own asses from failing. There is also supposed to be talks about the possibility one single league (for the entire world, no, the universe) with one set of rules

John Amodea, the editor of PB2X, has sent out an email about PB2X and his future intentions. He has a blog that he will keep updated.

Here’s their press release:

Pacific Paintball and its subsidiaries will be filing proceedings under the United States Bankruptcy Code to effect a liquidation of their respective assets and business operations. The affairs and assets of Pacific Paintball LLC, NPPL LLC, XPSL LLC, PB2X LLC, Xtreme Paintball Fields LLC and Camp Pendleton Paintball LLC will be administered by a court appointed trustee in bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court will provide you with written instructions regarding how and where to file any claims in this matter.

Despite doing all we could do, we were unable to make the business a viable concern. Further, in this severe economic climate, we were unable to secure new funding. It is a truly regrettable outcome, though one which is unfortunately occurring more and more frequently in this environment. We thank all those who have supported us.

Here’s Amodea’s email:

Hello friends,

By now you probably have heard that Pacific Paintball and its subsidiaries will be filing proceedings under the United States Bankruptcy Code to effect a liquidation of their respective assets and business operations. This includes our magazine, the NPPL, and all of Pacific Paintball’s other companies. Since many have speculated as to what this means as far as the magazine and my future in paintball goes, I thought I’d try to clear that up.

First, the liquidation of Pacific Paintball means that all of the company’s assets—from their computers, airball bunkers, netting and other physical property as well as their trademarked names—will all be sold. This is assuming there are interested buyers. At least that’s how I understand this. That leaves open the possibility for someone to buy any of the Pacific Paintball brand names to continue running the operation(s) as they see fit.

As for me—I’ve been in paintball for 23 years, with 18 years of running paintball magazines. This is what I am and this is what I’ll continue to be. I will pass on more about what I will be working on next at my new blog site, http://john-amodea.blogspot.com/, which will be up and running this Friday, December 5th.

Finally, I wanted to express my gratitude for all of the relationships I’ve developed and for all of the support you’ve given to Paintball 2Xtremes Magazine. Please keep in touch and feel free to e-mail me at [omg, no spam]. I look forward to working for and with you all again soon.

John Amodea