National Professional Paintball League

The National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) was an American paintball tournament series that existed in various incarnations operating between 1990 and 2013. It featured both the top teams of professional paintball as well as amateur divisions of play at each stop. The NPPL typically featured four events per year, each held in a different city. The season typically opened in March and closed in October. Each individual event crowned a tournament champion. The NPPL also awarded a Series Championship based cummilative points accrued throughout the season based on placings at each individual event.

The NPPL featured 10-man, and later the 7-man format of play.

At one point, it was the largest professional seven-man paintball league in the world.

It is most well known for its Surf City Open Event, and hosting the majority of San Diego Dynasty’s tournament wins, who’s 60+plus tournament victories is the most of all time.

The league, originally served as a de facto governing body of play.

After years of playing the lively tournament circuit, the players call a "players only" meeting to discuss starting a player-run league. They met in Chicago and formed a league which they called the National Professional Paintball League (NPPL). The NPPL ran four events in their first season as a new league. ^[1]

By the late 1990s, it was ultimately run in tandem with a small collection of the major manufacturer owners, who each were responsible for producing one of the four events, held in their region of the country.

By the early 2000s, the relationship between the promoters group and the teams grew contentious, eventually leading to a separation in the winter of 2002.

In 2003, manufacturer WDP launched a spin off company called Pure Promotions who worked with the NPPL governing body and produced a league, The NPPL Super 7 Series, between 2003-2007.

This was arguably the most successful version of the league, garnering tv deals with Fox Sports and producing their season-opener event from Pier at Huntington Beach each March, in front of ten of thousands of people.

Pure Promotions eventually sold the league to group called Pacific Paintball, LLC. A subsidiary of Clear Channel.

Less than 18 months later, Pacific Paintball declared bankruptcy in 2008.

In 2009, no play happened under the NPPL banner as litigation and bankruptcy ran through its process. Instead, a league was ran under the moniker the USPL in 2009.

The NPPL returned in 2010, this time as its own company and without A separate promotional group or parent company.

In February 2014, the NPPL announced that the series would not return for 2014 in order to restructure and reorganize and has now disbanded.

History

The NPPL held four events throughout the United States each year. Registration was open to any team in any division except in the professional division which consisted of 18 franchised professional teams. The three lowest-ranked professional teams at the end of a season were relegated to the semi-professional division, and the three highest-ranked semi-professional teams were promoted to the professional division. Teams competed according to skill level classified into separate divisions. Divisions were distinguished in ascending order as: Division III (D3), Division II (D2), Division I (D1), Semi-Professional, and Professional. Cash prizes were given out to the top four finishers in each division. The season generally started in March and went through October with a tournament being played about every other month.

General regulations

A regulation NPPL field is 180 feet (55 m) long by 100 feet (30 m) wide. Inflatable bunkers of differing shapes and sizes are placed on the field in mirrored symmetry. Each end of the field has a start box with the team's flag on it. Each team consists of seven players.

At the beginning of a match, the head referee raises his hand and announces the start of the silent ten-second countdown. At the end of the silent countdown, the game is commenced with the head referee yelling "Go, go, go!" When the game commences, a seven-minute countdown is started. The game ends when either all the players on both teams are eliminated, time runs out, or a flag is hung. Points are awarded for hanging the opposing team's flag on your start station, pulling the opponent's flag from their start station, eliminating opposing players, and for live (unmarked) players at the end of a match.

A player is eliminated when they are hit by a paintball that breaks on any part of the body or equipment. Upon elimination the player must place their gun behind their start station and go to their team's deadbox, located in their back corner of the field. If a player fails to acknowledge a hit they run the risk of being penalized with a "one-for-one." This penalty consists of a referee pulling out the eliminated player and the closest friendly player.

Past venue locations & results

Teams

The following is a list of teams to have played in the National Professional Paintball League.

See also

• Paintball Sports Promotions

References

• Results for 2003-2006 seasons
• Results for 2007-2008 seasons
• Team entrance into NPPL
• Regional Paintball League Website

External links

• NPPL Official Site