Paintball X3 published a press release about Valken offering their first “Pro Level Scenario Team Sponsorship”. After being shut out of PSP as a potential paint vendor, that’s a quick turnaround. Of course, having already budgeted the related expenses for the PSP circuit, the company must have found themselves sitting on a pile of cash that they needed to push somewhere to make money make money.
I wonder if this will turn out to be a first move in a more large-scale shift towards the recball crowd for Valken? And ultimately, will the league/sponsor agreements divide the field even more and further broaden the rift between the two major series and recball / tornament play in general?
For the pro bracket, there’s a few ways this (in the broadest sense) can go and the outcomes might be quite different based on the negotiations with teams and especially players. There has been a significant amount of “free-movers” between the leagues, playing on one team on the other league and repping different colors on the other league. What is to happen if the player contract stipulates that to have the contract the player can’t represent any brand that is “interchangeable” but in a different league? That naturally narrows down the possibilities for the players.. If the icentives coming from the industry on a player level are actually enough to catch the players’ attention in the first place.
But I digress. For Valken, the offered “PRO level” sponsorship package does imply the company sees little actual profit potential in the scenario league. Why else would the PRO sponsorship package be conditional on the achievements the team needs to reach during the season? “First, buy our stuff and if you do well, you’ll get a voucher to get more of our stuff”.. Or then it could just be that they’re not that familiar with the league they are hopping onto. Anyway, this could potentially lead to more investment to trickle to the rec leagues as the other manufacturers need to counter Valken’s claim on the segment.
Funny times.
to write something about the Winter Series we played a few weeks ago but then I noticed a thing I had to bring up. And the thing is: Chase your paintball dream, be the one who works for it and be the one who believes it and one day it just might come true!
Another dream chaser in finnish paintball scene is Mikko Huttunen. Mikko has fullfilled his dream years ago and is now having a little break from paintball. The man is now taking care of big things at Dye and developing their new product line in snow sports and doing all other exciting stuff which he was led into by paintball. Like you know Mikko is from small town called Siilinjärvi and the town itself is not very cosmopolite and it had absolutely nothing to do with professional paintball before Mikko. Mikko has now won almost everything there is to win, including two World Cups and tons of other major tournaments. Well who worked and pushed Mikko into this international scene and the land of dreams? Yes, you know this one also. It was Mikko himself who had the passion and cojones to take risks and by that he made it and conquered the dream.
passioned and you have to believe if you want to get a hold of your dream. You are the one that makes things happen for you, you are the one to sweat for your goals and dreams. You are THE one who knows your way to success so why the hell not try and chase it? If you never chased it you’re surely not going to get it.. and before you know, you just might be too old and used to your normal life and at that point you regret all the decisions you did not make. So believe in it and you just might be the next person we all are talking about!
Our Div 1 team Cyclone VDO managed to do well also, they came 3rd. 3rd place is quite nice because the team is put up mostly for bringing up new players and bringing the experience to them.
