Paintball Magazine November 2017 | Page 22

THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM America. Make no mistake about it; the best SERIES AS WE KNOW IT in pro paintball today worldwide was very When most American paintball players think about professional tournament paintball promoters, the first names that come to mind are probably the NXL, the PSP before it, the NPPL before that and maybe even the Lively series of the 1980s and early 90s. Ask a European paintball player about pro paintball promoters and I guarantee the first and possibly only name you’ll hear mentioned is the Millennium Series. That’s because for 19 full seasons the Millennium Series has been running the best events in Europe. And for many of those years the league was putting on events rarely rivaled or matched even in 022 paintball.media magazine much inspired by the Millennium Series and their quality of events. But times change and so do teams, players and promoters. While the Millennium Series has been setting the tournament paintball standard for many years, they have also seen a downturn in the number of participating teams the past few seasons. And it’s no secret that the paintball economy in Europe is not what it was five years ago. Fewer teams playing means less entry fee money, lessening sponsorships and declining paint sales at events—the perfect storm creating a less perfect league.