Gino and Richmond 2002 .
being funnelled into playing tournaments . And while our industry tried to figure out an appropriate strategy to jump-start the flow of players back into tournaments , the world paintball market overall contracted from approx . $ 550 million annually to about $ 300 million in the course of about three years . Those figures are not precise by the way , they are ball-park but the order of magnitude is certainly close enough to make the point .
The solution to our problem wasn ’ t going to be easy , we knew that . It had to be a multi-facetted approach but finally , one of the root causes is now being addressed , at least in part , and it is the European Millennium Series along with the NXL from the US that is driving through some necessary changes in our sport . That change is predicated upon making tournament play significantly cheaper for the tournament players . On the face of it , it sounds like a pretty good place to start .
Basically , it was just way too expensive to play tournaments in this new economic era . Costs had to be reduced somehow , otherwise we would continue to witness the decline in our tournament scene . The two biggest tournament series in the world are the NXL in the US and the Millennium Series over here in Europe . The two best-known figureheads of the Millennium are Steve Baldwin and Laurent Hamet . The NXL interest is provided by Richmond Italia but more of him later , because his involvement is critical to what is happening now .
So , the gang of three set out addressing the problems facing our sport . But are these guys qualified to arrest this slide ? Yeah , they are capable , and also uniquely placed in our sport / industry . It ’ s all well and good with people coming up with great ideas , but if you don ’ t have the ability or wherewithal to put them into practice , you might as well go and piss in the wind .
For those of you who don ’ t know , Steve Baldwin ’ s CV is pretty unique in our sport . He has proved to be a crucial element in our sport ’ s evolution , especially so in Europe . He promoted his first event in the UK in 1988 . That ’ s where I got to know him when he banned my team during that first major event in the UK . Thankfully , he forgave my indiscretions and managed to hang on to his front teeth , and we ’ ve been friends ever since .
Steve ’ s partner in crime and fellow owner of the Millennium Series is Laurent Hamet , one of the few genuine visionaries of our sport . I
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