Richmond X-rated
Richmond Italia, CEO of Procaps and founder of the NXL
talked to Facefull during the World Cup 2003. Though the NXL
format’s success is unilaterally undisputed, Mr Italia
is now facing increasing criticism from the players who are
still not under contract, but banned from playing other circuits.
A year has gone by, what’s your assessment of
how the NXL premiered?
Success.
Total success?
It’s hard to believe that it’s only been one year.
Everybody’s come to accept it already. It’s already
been accepted -- in North America anyway -- as the way pros
play paintball. You want to see the best teams in the world?
You’re going to go watch X-Ball. It’s unbelievable
that it only started this year.
Are you happy with
the quantum leap the venues made this year?
They definitely stepped up to the plate. Be it a combination
of competition, which is always healthy, and the level of interest
from TV outlets who needed us to play venues like this -- in
venues like Wide World of Sports -- for them to take us seriously.
But the good thing is that the PSP owners recognized it was
time to step up. They all went deep into their pockets, they
didn’t put this on the back of the players. The player’s
entrance fees this year never went up, although PSP’s
expenses went up by almost half a million dollars.
How involved were you in getting Disney for the Orlando World
Cup 2003?
According to Jerry Braun, you were already negotiating Disney
one year before the split… but a lot of players indirectly
credit the Super 7 for your success here at Disney.
The negotiations were already taking place before, the truth
behind it is… A venue like this is very expensive. For
us to be here, we realized that at best we were not going to
make money, so there had to be a conscious decision to increase
the level of our play, increase our level of presentation in
exchange for basically not making money. That’s a hard
decision to make. People like myself, partners in the PSP, Dave
Youngblood (Dye), the Gardner brothers (Smart Parts), we really
don’t care… The more the industry grows, the better
we look, and the more our companies make money. The people like
Paul Satler and Jerry Braun, unfortunately, their revenues come
from these events, for them, it was a big thing to say: “Okay,
we’re not going to make money.” After all, that’s
the only money they make!
Were there conditions
for Disney to ‘accept’ paintball on their turf?
There was a trial period. You can remember last year, we held
one X-Ball game at Disney. That was for Disney’s VP, they
were very low-key, most people didn’t even realize they
were there.
The top Disney people were at the site, they watched…
We watched to see what their reaction would be. I mean, we call
them paintball markers, people who don’t know paintball
still refer to them as guns. For Disney, it’s a big risk
to allow paintball players onto their land. There’s an
image risk… I mean, this is Mickey Mouse land!
And
it all went really smoothly…
Well, we’re here. It went over well enough.
Regarding
the format of the NXL, you changed things for this first year.
Are there any other changes that you foresee in the coming future?
There is an NXL meeting early January. It’s going
to set down the problems, and what we’d like to propose
as rule changes for next year.
Can you give some
examples?
Well, I can’t say any rule changes, I can tell you what’s
going to be voted on. They’re going to be voting on coaching,
whether the coaches can speak during games…They’re
even going to be voting on trivial things, like how far do the
spectator stands have to be from the net. It was kind of left
up to the people designing the fields, and varied from tournament
to tournament this year. Now we have to actually put it down
in writing, to set out what it’s going to look like.
Can you tell us about Dick Clark and the effective deal
that has been drawn up with his production company?
There’s a lot of things I can’t talk about. I can’t
talk about details. I can say that Dick Clark Productions, which
is one of the biggest production companies in the world, has
acquired the broadcast rights of the NXL.
Acquired
financially?
Acquired financially. He has put his name behind it, his reputation...
He has many, many things planned for next year, he is in negotiations
with -- not your TNN or your OLN -- he’s in negotiations
with ABC, NBC, ESPN, he’s not interested in the little
ones.
Could you tell us how Dick Clark came on board?
You know what? Everybody in paintball owes a few people a debt
of gratitude: first, the Gardners, for making the financial
investment, and for bringing Hollywood closer to paintball.
And second is a gentleman by the name of Bo Carson, who is in
a partnership agreement with the Gardners, and he is the Hollywood
connection. This man has introduced us to more movie stars,
more VPs, the power behind Hollywood, than we could ever have
done in a lifetime. So we really need to thank those people.
Have there been studies on the exact demographics that
a televised NXL would appeal to?
A hundred percent.
Are you one hundred percent
sure that there is going to be an audience responsive to this
immediately?
As far as all the surveys that they ran… you have to realize
that before these people put their reputations on the line,
they check everything. They check it, they have people checking
it. As you can see here, Dick Clark came, he showed himself.
He made the association that “I am committed. Here’s
my face, here’s my name, here’s my signature and
here’s my handshake. I am here, I’m behind paintball.”
So he’s committed his reputation, he has in turn, left
some of his VPs behind to go through the detail work. He has
left several of his camera people here to get a feeling of how
this needs to be filmed. How do you need to lay it out, how
many cameras you need. So the dedication level is there, more
than that, all we can say is that we need to give the man a
little bit of time. We’ve been playing paintball fifteen
years. We need to give him a little bit of time to put together
a package of how this needs to be presented… As for the
demographics, he’s definitely done that homework. And
demographics are important… TV doesn’t care who
watches TV, as long as somebody watches TV. Who cares are the
sponsors. Who are the real sponsors out there, who’s the
money out there? Look at commercials out there, Coca-Cola, Pepsi…
you can name a million of them… if you notice, all of
them are gearing themselves towards sponsoring the ‘in’
crowd, the ‘in’ people, the trendy people, and paintballers
are definitely trendy people.
Has the production
company already decided on how the format would be filmed?
They already talked about how it ‘can’t’ be
filmed. They haven’t talked about how it can be filmed,
they’ve told us how it cannot be filmed. It cannot be
filmed as a normal sport. The sports we’re used to --
soccer, football -- all have a focal point… they have
a ball. This does not. So, we’re definitely going to need
extra cameras on the field… They’re relating it
more to a tennis match than to a soccer game. The play is going
to go back and forth, you’re going to show the left side,
the right side, you’re going to show how the sides are
coming closer together to the point where the two sides pass
each other. That’s how they describe it.
I’ve
talked to a lot of NXL players over the week, and what struck
me is that they really don’t know anything about what
is going on with their league… They do not seem to be
very informed on the television deal, for example. What’s
your take on this? Is it true, is there a valid reason?
Here’s a prime example within our own industry. K2 industries,
a big ski company that owns a lot of other companies has just
acquired JT. That’s known news now. Everybody involved
in JT, hundreds and hundreds of employees, they knew that it
was happening, but they hadn’t been given the details.
Because it’s a business…
I do understand
that some things should be kept at a management level, for example
the exact terms and conditions of a potential television deal…
But informing them on where they are going to be next year,
isn’t that important?
But the negotiations are still going on. So what are we going
to tell them? We can say, “yes, we’re going to major
TV,” are we going to commit ourselves to one broadcaster?
No, but that’s because we’re going to wait until
the last minute and see if better offers come in! Should we
commit ourselves? No, there’s no reason to commit ourselves
until the last minute. If we go ahead and inform the general
public of the deal that we are making…
But
it’s not the general public, it’s the players, or
even the captains of NXL franchised teams, players that are
important for the NXL, right?
The players are definitely important, but what we can do at
this time…I’m not saying that we’re not going
to inform them. I’m saying that it’s too early to
inform them, because we don’t have all the answers.
Financially, there’s been a lot of players who
weren’t happy with what they got this year, especially
with cash prizes on the other side of the fence… Have
you thought about how to solve that situation?
Unfortunately, there are players out there who have no vision
whatsoever. They’re so worried about today…. You
have to realize that there is not one NXL player that has a
dime that comes out of his pocket. Everything’s paid for.
What they’re crying about, some of them…is winning
$10,000 and maybe getting $1000 a player per event, for a total
of $5000 a year. That’s what they’re crying about.
We’re trying to work out a deal where we can get these
players paid to the tune of $50,000 to $100,000 a player…
and they’re worried about $5000. So in all honesty, the
ones that have absolutely no vision… Let them go. Because
they’ll be replaced within minutes.
The argument
behind it being that these players are famous in the paintball
world, they’re nobody in the real world?
They’re nobody in the real world. You know what? The paintball
crowd is what, 4000 or 5000 people. One of the most popular
paintball players in the world is Chris Lasoya. And yes, to
5000 people, he’s a superstar…. But to the other
six billion people in the world, Chris Lasoya doesn’t
mean anything. When we go to television, it can be anybody.
We can bring AJ, or a complete no-name person, and turn him
into a superstar within 24 hours.
Do you still need
star players in the NXL?
Do we need them? No. Do we want them to be there because they
deserve to be there? Yes. So our first choice by far is to give
them what they deserve, because they helped us build this sport.
If we don’t give them the chance, then we’re wrong.
But if we give them the chance, and we tell them to have patience
for a year, tell them that there is something big coming, and
they can’t wait a year? That’s their own folly…
we did all we could.
At the beginning of the season,
in your last Facefull interview, you ‘hinted’ that
the NXL wasn’t tagged to either the PSP or the NPPL…
Are you still hesitant now?
Do I feel I made the right choice? Definitely, and I think that
most of the players out there believed that the PSP/NXL made
the right choice. My major disappointment, in the Super 7 series,
is that they attached their events to the same cities that we
were in, and that they put them within two weeks of the PSP
event. This proved to me that these people had no intention
of growing the sport, and growing the business… their
only intention was to steal the PSP’s business. This is
very, very sad, and very unfortunate. There was no reason for
it.
Rumors that the NXL might be adding franchises
for the coming year?
I hear those rumors too…
Are there
things that you have planned for next year that you can talk
about?
We’re always looking at expansion at the right time, and
at the right place. There’s been a lot of investment from
the PSP owners, from the team owners… The PSP owners have
invested in bringing a better show, and forfeiting any money
that they were planning on making. There were extreme expenses
incurred in running these NXL teams. These teams are running
with higher budgets than we’ve ever seen in paintball
before. Not because of the game, but because it’s come
to a professional level, and instead of practicing once a month,
these teams are practicing every week.
Division
One and Division Two have been expanding tremendously over the
year. Do you have any comments on that?
We knew that it would happen, we wrote the book on how we’re
supposed to play paintball. We made new rules, we made better
rules. Now that they have an opportunity to see the new rules…
the proof is in the pudding. By them switching to X-Ball, they
prove that yes, we came up with better rules, with a better
way to play. The sport has evolved, we’ve gone to better
equipment, we’ve gone to smaller fields. Laurent Hamet
(Adrenaline Games) was responsible for bringing the sport out
of the woods. The next step was to appeal to spectators, and
X-Ball rules do that. The players who are out there playing
behind these bunkers… If you had the choice, do you want
to play against five guys? Or do you want to play against five
guys that have 5000 people watching you and rooting for you.
These guys want spectators, and X-Ball is the way to go.
Talk of a video game… big-name players have signed
a contract linking them to an X-Box video game.
Very disruptive. Extremely disruptive. The players that signed
that contract just ruined their careers. Unfortunately, none
of them went to speak to anybody, they didn’t ask for
legal consultation… What basically ended up happening
is that the people behind this video game realized that there
was a TV deal coming, they knew more than the average player,
they signed up these names, figuring that when the TV deal comes,
these rights they just signed off would be worth a lot of money
and they could sell it for a profit…
To you.
Back to anybody. They preyed on a bunch of paintball players
that didn’t know any better. Basically these players ruined
their careers. Any player who signed this contract, TV will
not pick them up.
That’s for sure?
One hundred percent. They need to either get out of the contract,
they need to go see their own attorneys, explain that they signed
a contract without any consultation, without any warning, they
were misled, and they need to get themselves out of that deal.
When the TV deal comes and happens, and when those players are
asked to sign exclusives with the TV, they don’t have
a choice. If they have signed an exclusive to somebody else,
they can’t sign with TV. Their careers are over.
This might mean losing Chris Lasoya, Rich Telford…
big names…
Unfortunately. Big names, definitely… But like I said,
I love those guys, they are my best friends… They will
be replaced.
Comments
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| "You "can bring AJ, or a complete no-name person, and turn him into a superstar within 24 hours."... Mr. Italia, Pick Me !" | Cyclops
25/12/03 at 10:46
 | | "The people who play and watch the tourney's will know who are the superstars and who are the "scab" players. Give them a winning bonus and let us watch who we like. We don't want overnight players, we want people who came up in the sport." | ogplayer
26/12/03 at 03:13
| | "AJ? - Adam Johnson from Miami Effect?, that guy is already a superstar on and off the field! a great person my buddy AJ. As for the rest of the interview pretty cool!, I can't wait for the 2004 season!, X-Ball rulz!" | alex-pimienta
29/12/03 at 02:55
 | | "Hey Rich, NPPL SUPER 7 IN JAN ON FOX SPORTS HOUR.OH AND RICH FOX HAS THE MOST WATCHED SPORTS COVERAGE OF ANY MAJOR NETWORK. FROM FOOTBALL,BASEBALL,AND EXTREME GAMES COVERAGE AND ECT.SO RICH WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BE NATIONAL TV? YOU NEVER DID AWNSER THAT IN THIS AD,BUT YOU DID TAP DANCE AROUND IT. THE NPPL BLEW AWAY ANY PSP EVENT YOU HAD THIS SEASOM.NOT BY STEALING YOUR FANS,BUT RATHER BY PUTTING ON SOME GREAT EVENTS,WITH WORLD CLASS TEAMS.HEY RICH,I DO NOT REMEMBER HEARING ANY OF THE NPPL PRO-TEAMS CRYING ABOUT MONEY...AND KEEP SELLING OUT YOUR BIG NAME PLAYERS AND WE WILL SEE HOW FAR YOU MAKE IT.RICH YOU REALLY NEED TO HIRE A PUBLIC RELATIONS PERSON..OHH LETS SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DICK CLARK STARTS PULLING THE STRINGS...YOU NEED THE PLAYERS,IT IS THE PLAYERS WHO DO NOT NEED YOU.PAY FOR PLAY.HEY RICH YOU CAN BE REPLACED TO.GREAT CONCEPT X-BALL,NOW THEY NEED SOMEONE WITH SOME SAVVY TO REALLY RUN IT. GREAT ARTICLE FACE FULL." | dave1414
29/12/03 at 12:28
| | "man thats crazy that chris lasoya and rich telford are gonna be gone. that realy sucks. i think they better do what ever they can to get themselves out of that contract. And the same for any tother players that signed. We cant be losing some of paintballs best players!" | thereaper
11/02/04 at 19:47
| | "Some of the best paintball players in the world are retiring or not playing any more. Hopefully my team and I can show what paintball means in our state of Colorado. " | ruiz jr
17/03/04 at 18:44
| | "for me to play this paintball game is good,but to the player who pro must teach a new comer." | farule
20/06/04 at 14:24
 | | "L
" | kye
26/07/04 at 18:56
 | | "i doubt the greg hastings pro paintball ppl. arent gonna allow chris L to play on tv/sue if he does (madden has big game nfl players)This man just wants the players exclusivelly and will spout any bs to get what he wants" | evilballer2004
01/09/04 at 06:44
| | "I DID NOT BOTHER TO READ THE HOLE THING SO I DOUN'T KNOW WHAT IT'S ABOUT ALL I KNOW IS THAT IS HAS TO DO WITH P8BALL BUT I DID NOT READ IT.......
" | tony{p8baller}
16/09/04 at 06:17
| | "hey all,
how r u all doin!
i am trying to start my own paintball team and i am wondering how to do so. i mean how to start from scratch and and how to enter events and tournaments and such. and how i can make it official.
peace,
joe " | ilxduce531
02/11/04 at 16:35
| | "Tv and paintball is still an interesting concept as paintball is about the most fun I have ever had playing a sport. Unfortunately, there is a lot to be desired as a spectator. Amazing how a sport can be so much fun to play and such a disaster to watch. XBall is doing a lot for the TV image, but not sure how the majority will see paintball when all they see on TV is people destroying each other with thousands of rounds of paint in a game that lasts less than two minutes(long xball game).
Will the parents that watch this send their kids out to play? How can the sport show both sides of the paintball world by attracting with fast paced action and yet finding a way to make the parents feel safe about their kids playing?
Maybe random commercials regarding the safe statistics of paintball compared to other sports? Maybe commercials for fields that are affordable for the fields (discount for in-market advertising)?
I am very interested in how it all turns out and if I had the money would buy into a franchise and help the sport." | paterson1220
23/12/04 at 14:39
| | "ok, i really think that the whole idea of the nxl franchise system is screwed up. most people stopped paying any attention to it. the pro division x-ball is where all the really top players are now anyway. that said, thanks for coming up with x-ball. its more intense than anything else i have ever played, finally there is a tv friendly format!
joe-
its not that hard, just get your friends together, practice a few times, then call your local field and find out when the next tournament is. talk to other teams and find out what tournaments they are playing." | crzyfrontman
21/02/05 at 20:25
| | " Actually I do agree with Richmond .i've thought so much about TV and paintball.TV=Sponsors=Money= Progress...
but i think it is exactly the point that we do not have a point of focus for a TV camera but i think there might be a way to show the exitement to TV watchers.
IS THERE ANY ONE TO TELL ME RICHMONS E_MAIL I WANNA TELL HIM ABOUT THE IDEA OF MINE.
" | bobby_282
21/07/05 at 14:30
 | | " I alway wich paintball but I win evely time and be cool." | cameron
01/11/05 at 14:00
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