Everybody in the industry is all wrapped around the axle about one thing: Paintball on TV. They're all excited about making our sport mainstream. Why not? It's fun to play, it's challenging, it's a thinking player's sport, etc. There's one BIG problem keeping the sport off television. Paintball, in it's present incarnation, will NOT work on television.
Here's why.
MULTIPLE PLAYER TEAMS
Multiple player teams have to go. The reason is very simple. Unlike other televised sports, paintball has no central focus. In baseball, basketball, football, soccer and hockey there is a central focus where all the action takes place. Many will say the flag is the central focus in paintball. However, how many times have you seen game-winning moves that didn't involve the flag?
The camera is going to miss important action pivotal to the game in progress.
SEMIS
While I'm not against semis, they're not going to work on TV. You want action and that action is movement NOT shooting. The first few seconds of a game are pretty spectacular but then it just reduces to hunkering behind cover and shooting.
Paintball is touted at being an "extreme" sport. While it may be extreme to shoot a case a game, it's not very extreme to watch. Have you ever WATCHED a paintball game on a speedball field? You think that would look good on television?
There is a place for semis, I'll get into that later on.
CAMERA COVERAGE
Okay you have to actually see the players, right? I mean what's the point. But players hide behind things so they don't get hit. Those things block camera angles. You're going to miss action and you're going to miss a lot of it. Just watch some footage of paintball with those inflatable bunkers and you'll see what I mean.
OFFICIALS ON THE FIELD
Right now, there are nearly as many refs on the field as there are players. This is the nature of the game. Due to the fact that the action is spread throughout the playing area, you can't just have two refs on the field. However, you don't want to see refs, you want to see players.
PROGRAMMING
Right now most TV coverage has been about the actual play of the game. One five minute game after the other. The same thing, over and over again for a whole hour. I love paintball, I sleep, eat and breathe paintball. But I find this type of coverage boring.
PAINTBALLS
If you've ever watch paintball on videos, you'll notice that you can't see the balls in flight. The viewer has to be able to see where the balls are going.
MY SOLUTION "THE PAINTBALL SHOW"
GAME FORMAT
The games have to be one-on-one, straight elimination format. What I have called "Showdown". Why?
1. It narrows the focus to the two opponents and allows cameras to see most, if not all, of the action.
2. A significant reduction of the number of officials on the field. (With two players you'd only need two or three refs.)
3. It will be easier for an individual to schedule the time to travel to a Paintball Show event than it would for a team to do the same thing.
4. There is more chance to develop "star-potential" in the players. Thus allowing the audience to identify with the player.
5. It would be less expensive for sponsors and therefore sponsors would be more willing to lend their support to players. This leads to players not having to foot the bill and thereby bringing even more players to the events. That way players are not restricted by their income and it opens it out to ALL ages and ALL walks of life. This also widens the appeal of the game and the show.
6. You would have a larger base from which to choose players for the broadcasts and the Paintball Show could easily sponsor and support one-on-one "try-out" events at local fields to find new players. The fact that they are one-player teams makes scheduling events a lot easier, too. (Try-outs could be taped and highlights could be shown on the Paintball Show.)
7. It simplifies the rules and the enforcement thereof and would virtually eliminate any cheating.
8. It reduces problems in relation to poor player attitudes. The worst case scenario is that you have two idiots on the field, not TEN.
9. An extreme simplification for experience ratings. During the qualification try-outs it is very easy to judge the experience of a SINGLE player. It's real hard to sneak in "ringers" on a team with only one player. You could also have first-time players competing against other first-time players. You could even pick them from the audience!
10. It makes it easier for women to partake in competitive play. When the ladies want to play, they don't have to try and find other ladies to play on a team with them, they just show up at the try-outs.
11. It makes the game less confusing for the non-paintball public.
TECHNOLOGICAL LEVEL
The Showdown games HAVE to be stock class (SC). In stock class there is to be room for players to move, just siting and shooting is not entertaining to the viewer. Also with stockguns there is the addition drama of players having to reload and change C02 during the game. With only two opponents, this becomes even more dramatic as one player can cover a lot of ground with their opponent is changing 12 grams or reloading. It also develops strategies, tactics and a game that is more about skill than firepower. A game that is more entertaining.
Stockguns also further reduce the cost of players attending a Paintball Show event. The Paintball Show, unlike other paintball events, should not be gaining it's main source of revenue from the participants. (That's what TV sponsors, advertisers and ticket sales are for.)
However, you don't have to JUST have SC. You could also have a Semi Pistol Class (SPC) with ten shot, semi pistols. You could allow them to be powered by a bulk air source but still have the drama of reloading under pressure.
The thing is to reduce the firepower and increase the challenge.
You can still have semis, however. This would be a timed event called Practical Paintball Shooting Competition (PPSC). In this event players would be bolting from shooting station to shooting station and knocking down multiple targets, with each shooting station having different scenarios based on what players could confront during a normal game. This would be very entertaining, especially with semis. (In fact, it's probably the only time a player sitting and hosing WOULD be entertaining.) The PPSC would also bring more players into the Paintball Show events and it would be another live segment for the show.
FIELD SET-UP
The bunkers or other cover have to be transparent. This gives the player cover but allows the cameras to see them. Also, when using stockguns, the bunkers are not going to be completely covered in paint splats.
However, with transparent bunkers players will be visible to their opponents at all times. Here's my solution. You polarize the bunkers and the players' goggle lenses. Here's how it works. Polarization of a transparent material is either horizontal or vertical. What polarization does is block half of the light, thus reducing the glare. If you polarize the bunkers horizontally and you polarize the goggle lenses vertically -- when you look through the lens the bunker appears opaque. So the players would see solid bunkers but the cameras and the viewers would see transparent bunkers. (See the drawing I did, and you'll understand what I mean.)
With only two players on the field the refs can catch them trying to turn their heads sideways to see through the bunker. This action would be obvious as the player would literally have to turn their heads ninety degrees.
PAINTBALLS
Some say you have to make the paintballs larger. I don't think you do.
I have a very simple solution. Make the shells in the same colour as the "green screen" special effects folks use. You've seen green-screen technology, every time you watch your local weather forecast. The meteorologist is standing in front of a green-screen and the map is projected onto the screen. The meteorologist has to look at a TV monitor in order to see what they are pointed at.
If you make the balls the same colour as green-screen you can easily superimpose a bright, contrasting colour. Due to the fact that the balls are travelling fast, the superimposition of the colour will streak across the TV screen. The technology is already readily available and has been perfected for live broadcast.
VARIETY
Show what else is happening in paintball. You could have segments on safety (which I'd like to do -- hint, hint), technical tips, news, beginner advice, interviews with players, product reviews, highlights from other events, et cetera. The games are broadcast live and the pre-taped segments are shown between games. The idea is that the one-on-one game draws players and non-players in and the variety keeps them there. Think of it as a paintball magazine on TV.
CONCLUSION
If you want paintball on TV, you're going to have to accept the fact the paintball the way it is being played now has not, and will not, work on TV. We don't all have to play paintball this way and we do not have to change anything in the sport now. The Paintball Show will have yet another form of paintball with segments showing what else there is available to do in this sport. Not only will paintball be good viewing, the show will introduce million and millions of new players to the sport.
If you're interested in the concept for your paintball TV project, have suggestions or you're just curious, feel free to e-mail me.
Like to watch paintball on TV?
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