Paintball Magazine November 2017 | Page 40

What does this all mean? With two years of continued growth, the NXL is showing it can run a successful and growing league even in an economic downtime. A quick check of the NXL’s teams list for each event they’ve organized since their first tournament in 2015 shows a steady increase of teams from year to year and event to event. This year’s World Cup alone will have 400-plus teams, almost triple what the Millennium Series had in their finale event, the World Championships this season. I don’t expect those type of team counts in Europe next year but I do expect an excitement, energy and commitment level that will translate into successfully stabilizing and even growing the game tournament paintball here in Europe. THE EVENT The previous Millennium Series event, London, saw Edmonton Impact winning their second pro CPL (Champions Paintball League) event of 2017. In between their two wins Russian Legion Moscow walked away winners in Bitburg, Germany. Edmonton Impact, Toulouse TonTons, Breakout Spa and Russian Legion Moscow in some order have taken first through fourth place in all three previous 2017 events. In other words, no other CPL team has been to the semifinals this year. On the other end of excellence. teams the likes of Vision Marseille, Ramstein Instinct, Vienna United, Amsterdam Heat and other Moving onto the Millennium series World are battling to stay in the CPL for 2018. The Millennium’s rules call for the bottom two Championships… teams at year’s end in the CPL to be relegated 040 paintball.media magazine