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.^{[citation needed]}

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[edit]

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.

Bankruptcy and reorganization[edit]

On December 2, 2008 the NPPL filed for bankruptcy, after the NPPL's 2008 San Diego tournament - ending a short season, due to a hurricane cancelling the Houston event. In 2009, the remaining professional teams contacted former NPPL President Chuck Hendsch and formed the USPL. In late 2009, the USPL obtained the rights to the NPPL namesake for the 2010 season.^{[citation needed]} The name was eventually changed back to the NPPL and they were able to hold three more seasons before they called another hiatus in 2014. The series is closed indefinitely after a failed merger attempt.

General regulations[edit]

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[edit]

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Event 1	Huntington Beach, CA 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd Ton Ton Flingeurs 3rd Portland Naughty Dogs 4th OC Bushwackers	Huntington Beach, CA 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd Avalanche 3rd Portland Naughty Dogs 4th Arsenal	Huntington Beach, CA 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd Sacramento XSV 3rd SF Avalanche 4th Portland Naughty Dogs	Huntington Beach, CA 1st Sacramento XSV 2nd San Diego Dynasty 3rd New York NRG 4th Miami Rage	Huntington Beach, CA 1st Oakland BLAST 2nd Edmonton Impact 3rd San Diego Dynasty 4th Stockholm Joy	Huntington Beach, CA 1st San Antonio X-Factor 2nd St. Louis Avalanche 3rd San Diego Dynasty 4th Golden State Ironmen
Event 2	Las Vegas, NV 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd HSP Ronin 3rd Russian Legion 4th OC Bushwackers	Tampa, FL 1st LA Infamous 2nd San Diego Dynasty 3rd Portland Naughty Dogs 4th Sedition	Tampa, FL 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd Sacramento XSV 3rd Empire 4th LA Infamous	Tampa, FL 1st Sacramento XSV 2nd San Diego Dynasty 3rd Pittsburgh All Americans 4th Ironmen	Tampa, FL 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd Edmonton Impact 3rd LA Ironmen 4th St Louis Avalanche	Jacksonville, Fl 1st San Diego Aftermath 2nd Golden State Ironmen 3rd New England Hurricanes 4th Oakland BLAST
Event 3	Chicago, IL 1st Naughty Dogs 2nd Bad Company 3rd San Diego Dynasty 4th Brass Eagle	Denver, CO 1st LA Infamous 2nd Sacramento XSV 3rd San Diego Dynasty 4th Avalanche	Denver, CO 1st Sacramento XSV 2nd San Diego Dynasty 3rd Avalanche 4th Empire	Boston, MA 1st Miami Rage 2nd Portland Naughty Dogs 3rd Stockholm Joy Division 4th Chicago Evil	Boston, MA 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd LA Infamous 3rd Stockholm Joy Division 4th Pittsburgh All Americans	Buffalo, NY 1st LA Ironmen 2nd NE Hurricanes 3rd San Diego Dynasty 4th Sacramento XSV
Event 4	Atlantic City, NJ 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd Montreal Image 3rd Portland Naughty Dogs 4th Bad Company	Las Vegas, NV 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd Sacramento XSV 3rd LA Infamous 4th SD Dynasty Entourage	San Diego, CA 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd Sacramento XSV 3rd Oakland Empire 4th Miami Rage	San Diego, CA 1st Stockholm Joy Division 2nd Ironmen 3rd San Diego Dynasty 4th Miami Rage	Kansas City, MO 1st LA Ironmen 2nd Edmonton Impact 3rd NE Hurricanes 4th Montreal Image	San Diego, CA 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd NE Hurricanes 3rd Edmonton Impact 4th Tampa Bay Damage
Event 5	Miami, FL 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd Brass Eagle 3rd Strange 4th Bad Company	San Diego, CA 1st The Men 2nd Ironmen 3rd Nexus 4th NXS	Miami, FL 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd Sacramento XSV 3rd Portland Naughty Dogs 4th Joy Division	Orange County, CA 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd Stockholm Joy Division 3rd Sacramento XSV 4th Portland Naughty Dogs	San Diego, CA 1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd St. Louis Avalanche 3rd NE Hurricanes 4th Edmonton Impact	Houston, TX Cancelled due to Hurricane Ike.
Season standings	1. San Diego Dynasty	1. San Diego Dynasty	1. San Diego Dynasty	1. San Diego Dynasty	1. San Diego Dynasty 2. Edmonton Impact 3. Ironmen 4. Los Angeles Infamous	1. San Diego Dynasty

Teams[edit]

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

Professional[edit]

Bob Long’s Ironmen (2002)
Ground Zero Black (2002)
Ground Zero Gold (2002)
Fusion (2002)
Jax Warriors (2002)
Lockout (2002)
Miami Rage (2002)
Pittsburgh All Americans (2002)
Scottsdale Elevation (2008) - Took Philadelphia All Americans spot at San Diego 2008
San Diego Dynasty (2002)
SC Ironmen (2002)
St. Louis Avalanche (2002) - originally San Francisco Avalanche (Now New England Avalanche [2012])
Strange (2002)
Ton Ton Flingueres (2002)
Brass Eagle Allstars (2003)
New England Hurricanes (2004) - Played as Redz Hurricanes in 2004
Nexus (2003)
OC Bushwackers (2003) - Bushwackers International Lost spot in pro Division end of 2006. Regained spot in 2008 placing top 3 in Semi Pro taking Las Vegas LTZ’s spot
Portland Naughty Dogs (2003)
Russian Legion (2003)
Pasadena Bad Company (2003) - Lost spot in Pro Division 2007 to SD Aftermath
Phoenix Contact (2012) - Took Indianapolis Mutiny's spot after they dropped out of the league
Portland Uprising (2011)
Philadelphia Energy (2013)
Joy Division (2003) - Withdrew at end of 2007 season due to referee issues. Stockholm Sweden team.
Los Angeles Infamous (2004)
Sacramento XSV (2004)
Sedition (2004)
Chicago Legend
Chicago Evil changed name in 2007 to Chicago Farside (2003)
Oakland gang bangers (2005) - originally Oakland Empire
Fort Wayne Outlaws (2013) - Trademygun.com team
Vancouver Vendetta (2011) - Debuted in vegas?
Los Angeles Ironmen (2006)
DC Arsenal (2003)
Edmonton Impact (2007)
Montreal Image (2007) - originally New York NRG
San Antonio X-Factor (2008) - Took over Las Vegas LTZ’s spot by placing 4th in semi pro and A-Team the first place finisher no longer being a team.
SD Aftermath (2008) - Took over Bad Company’s spot by placing top 3 in semi pro.
Tampa Bay Damage (2008) - Purchased Jacksonville Raiders spot in the pro division
Jacksonville Raiders (2007) - Also known as Doc’s Raiders Sold pro spot to Tampa Bay Damage for 2008 season
Las Vegas LTZ (2007) - Lost spot in pro division end of 2007 to San Antonio X-Factor
Orange County Flashpoint (2013)
CRUsh (2013)

References[edit]

↑ "General History of Paintball". PBNation. Retrieved 13 September 2018.

External links[edit]

NPPL Official Site

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[1] "General History of Paintball". PBNation. Retrieved 13 September 2018.

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