National Professional Paintball League

The National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) is one of two American paintball national tournament series that travel throughout the United States each year, and was also the largest professional seven-man paintball league in the world.^{[citation needed]}

History

The NPPL holds five 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.

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]}

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

	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 Portland Naughty Dogs 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 Sacromento 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 San Diego Dynasty 3rd NE Hurricanes 4th Montreal Image	San Diego, CA '1st San Diego Dynasty 2nd OC Bushwackers 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

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

Professional

• 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)
• San Diego Dynasty (2002)
• SC Ironmen (2002)
• St. Louis Avalanche (2002) - originally San Francisco Avalanche
• Strange (2002)
• Ton Ton Flingueres (2002)
• Brass Eagle Allstars (2003)
• New England Hurricanes (2004) - Played as Redz Factory team in 2003
• 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
• Stockholm Joy (2003) - Withdrew at end of 2007 season due to referee issues.
• 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
• Los Angeles Ironmen (2006)
• DC Arsenal (2007) - also played as Dallas Elite
• 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

References

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

External links

• NPPL Official Site