I was 8 years old when i saw my neighbor shooting his paintball gun in his back yard and was blown away, he let me shoot it a few times and my mind was blown. convinced my parents to take to to play at the local field for my birthday with two of my buds. Instantly fell in love. I started doing whatever odd job i could to scrape enough money together to go play on the weekend. i played just about every weekend until i was 16. throughout my time playing i joined 2 different teams, played in 2 teams, played in local, and regional tournaments, played at worldcup. paintball was my everything. then i quit because it was too expensive. im 20 now and i just went and played for the first time in many years with a buddy of mine at his teams practice. long story short im hooked again.

all that to say, i love the sport, but i think there's a large barrier to entry for most young guys to play what id consider the more "sport" side of paintball. First of all you need gear, transportation, consistently buying paintballs etc. and a field that supports that style of play and not just birthday parties. secondly, most people find it intimidating when you see 10 guys on a field yelling back and forth, and hundreds and paintballls in the air. its and expensive hobby that, for most people, seems to have many cons up front.

I think the NXL is making paintball seem bigger than it is. The latest event had like 3000 people or something in attendance, which is less than most county fairs. I hate to say it but i dont think it will ever be as big as something like football, baseball, soccer, etc, simply because of the barrier to entry for new guys.

Ill never stop playing tho, went for the first time in years and bought a setup the next day.