NPPL Declares Bankrupcy

[Varnel]

I dunno what exactly this means for the future of paintball but:

Pacific paintball LTD have just decalred bankrupcy.

Quote:

After ten years of working for the NPPL, it is with a heavy heart that I contact you today regarding the future of the league and all of Pacific Paintball.

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.

 
This is a sad, sad day in paintball.

[Enhander]

Good grief..

[Varnel]

More info:

Early this morning the NPPL declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Traditionally, businesses file Chapter 11 which allows them to shed their debts and help reorganize their business operations / financials before either A) reentering the world, or B) declaring chapter 7 and liquidating assets.

Chapter 7, in the NPPL’s case, will mean that a bankruptcy court will begin selling off the assets at auction and returning the proceeds to the creditors. This means of course that PB2X, Paintball.com, the NPPL & XPSL brand names, and Xtreme Paintball Parks (specifically, Camp Pendleton Paintball Park) will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Please understand that Pacific Paintball LLC. was a group of venture capitalists who invest with the sole intention of turning an operation profitable so as to show a solid return on investment as quickly as possible. With the erosion of the global finance and more specifically, the credit markets, it was only a matter of time before the group “jumped ship”.

[sun-tzu]

Although I am not surprised it is unfortunate.

I predict a drop in paintball merchandise purchases and development coming soon that will last a season or so until the market stabilizes. 
Until then we will see people bail out of the sport and other joining will spend less on gear.

I also think we will see participation in event decline unless the price of entry and paint come down.  Sadly this means that quality might also degrade.  Again this will recover in a season or so.

I obviously have no way to know what will happen this is just my prediction based on my other prediction about the global economy

[Enhander]

Yea, I agree. Its gonna take some time. I see compaines producing more "Entry level" markers..such as the SLG or PMR...both are decently priced and perform almost as good as their $1,200 brothers.

[Varnel]

There are still other big names still out there like Millenium and PSP that are meeting some time next week to try and help each other out and get back on track. I think their plan is to standardize and make one rule book and field layout. That way everyone can play in all events and not have to decide which fields or rules they like better. I also don't see the NPPL going completly away. I can see some other company picking them up for next to nothing, sitting on it a year or two, maybe change the name, and then release it into the wild and make tons of monies!

[Foxxy]

i agree with JJ and Scott on the issue that it wll take a bit to get back on track and with you Lee that some companie isn't going to just pick it up and then change it like that.
We will see what the future has in stores for us. . . .

[sun-tzu]

It might actually be good to combine a few of the leagues.  I agree that at least 1 if not more Pro league will stay, i think its the non-sponcered rec types that will be affected.

[Varnel]

Sad, but true and usually they are the better fields as they aren't in it just for the money. They are in it because they love the sport, and then the man has to come and kick them in the nuts...

[Hudd]

Hey maybe they will get a 25 billion $ bailout to .