World Paintball League
The World Paintball League (WPL) was a professional three-player paintball competition associated with the Ultimate Arena Paintball League (UAPL) and the television programme Ultimate Arena Paintball. Its announced structure comprised 24 teams in three conferences of eight. Competition was filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, for broadcast on Superstation WGN.[1][2]
History
[edit]The WPL formed part of a television project developed by promoter Milt Call and producer Duke Ellinger of Paintball Television Productions. WARPIG's May 2005 report described the professional league alongside an open-entry feeder competition, the UAPL.[1]
The television programme began airing in April 2005, initially introducing viewers to paintball before the planned transition to tournament coverage.[1] Contemporary television-industry reporting independently identified Ultimate Arena Paintball as a programme featuring the 24-team WPL.[3]
By January 2006, WARPIG reported that six tournaments had been held at the Sports Center of Las Vegas. The 2006 television season was scheduled to premiere on 7 January at 18:00 Eastern Time on WGN.[2]
Relationship with the UAPL
[edit]The original announcement distinguished the World Paintball League as the professional competition and the Ultimate Arena Paintball League as an open-entry feeder series. Leading UAPL teams were intended to have an opportunity to enter the WPL.[1]
WARPIG's January 2006 tournament-format guide likewise described the WPL as the professional division of the UAPL project.[4]
The professional competition, feeder series and television programme were therefore related parts of the same project rather than interchangeable names for an identical competition.[1][2][4]
Teams and conferences
[edit]The announced WPL structure consisted of:
- 24 professional teams;
- three conferences;
- eight teams in each conference.[1]
The proposed season finals would include the leading two teams from each conference and two wildcard teams. The bottom two teams in each conference were intended to be replaced by leading UAPL teams.[1]
These were announced arrangements; they do not establish that every proposed promotion or relegation occurred.
WARPIG reported in January 2006 that the professional rosters included players known from NPPL, PSP and NXL competition.[2]
Playing format
[edit]The league used three-player arena paintball with a centre flag. Games took place inside a portable, fully netted enclosure containing inflatable bunkers.[1]
Competition used elimination brackets and short games, allowing advancing teams to appear repeatedly during the tournament programme.[1]
Documented competition
[edit]In January 2006, WARPIG reported Milt Call's statement that the six tournaments held to that point had produced six different winners. The report did not name those winners or publish a season standings table.[2]
This account documents tournament activity but does not identify a final WPL season champion.
Television
[edit]WPL professional competition was the principal focus of the Ultimate Arena Paintball television project. The Las Vegas tournaments were recorded in high definition, with Call and Ellinger establishing an editing facility for programme production.[2]
According to Call's account in WARPIG, WGN carried the show as advertising-supported programming rather than requiring its producers to purchase the broadcast airtime.[2]