Editing 2004 NPPL season

The '''2004 NPPL season''' was the second season of the [[National Professional Paintball League]]'s [[NPPL Super 7|Super 7 World Series]], produced by [[Pure Promotions]]. Five United States tournaments offered seven-player competition in Professional and Divisions I, II and III.[1][2][3][4][5]

[[San Diego Dynasty]] won the professional series championship, with [[Sacramento XSV]] finishing second overall. Dynasty and [[Infamous]] each won two American professional events, while The Men won the season-ending Commander's Cup.[6]

== Organisation and classifications ==

The NPPL continued its seven-player programme separately from [[Paintball Sports Promotions]]. Pure Promotions produced the Super 7 tournaments.[1]

Following the league's annual meeting on 6 December 2003, the classifications previously known as Amateur, Novice and Rookie were renamed Division I, Division II and Division III respectively. Professional retained its existing name. The league also announced a reduction in game length to seven minutes.[7]

{| class="wikitable"
! 2003 classification !! 2004 classification
|-
| Professional || Professional
|-
| Amateur || Division I
|-
| Novice || Division II
|-
| Rookie || Division III
|}

The professional division remained open to entrants during 2004. Season rankings also contributed towards qualification for the planned restricted professional division in 2005.[1][5]

== United States calendar ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Round !! Event !! Dates !! Venue
|-
| 1
| [[2004 NPPL Huntington Beach Open|Huntington Beach Open]]
| 19–21 March 2004
| Beach beside Huntington Beach Pier, Huntington Beach, California
|-
| 2
| [[2004 NPPL Tampa Open|Tampa Open]]
| 21–23 May 2004
| Grass parking areas surrounding Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
|-
| 3
| [[2004 NPPL Denver Open|Denver Open]]
| July 2004
| Parking area beside Invesco Field, Denver, Colorado
|-
| 4
| [[2004 NPPL Las Vegas Open|Las Vegas Open]]
| September 2004
| Grass practice fields outside Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada
|-
| 5
| [[2004 NPPL Commander's Cup|Commander's Cup]]
| 12–14 November 2004
| Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California
|}

Sources: contemporary event reports, the league's calendar announcement and existing event articles.[1][2][3][4][5][7][8]

== Event results ==

WARPIG's contemporary reports and ClassicScores record the following divisional winners.[1][2][3][4][5][9]

{| class="wikitable"
! Event !! Professional !! Division I !! Division II !! Division III
|-
| Huntington Beach Open
| [[San Diego Dynasty]]
| Bonebrake Factory
| STP Severe
| Organized Chaos
|-
| Tampa Open
| [[Infamous]]
| Evil
| Atomix
| Doc's Raiders Black
|-
| Denver Open
| [[Infamous]]
| Texas Storm
| Fury
| Organized Chaos
|-
| Las Vegas Open
| [[San Diego Dynasty]]
| Farside
| Mox Nix
| PTI
|-
| Commander's Cup
| The Men
| Regime
| Deadbox Factory
| Stormfront
|}

=== Professional competition ===

Dynasty opened the season with victory at Huntington Beach. At Tampa, Infamous, formed by former Miami Effect players, defeated Dynasty in the professional final.[1][2]

Infamous won again in Denver, ahead of XSV. Dynasty returned to first place in Las Vegas, defeating XSV in the final.[3][4]

At the Commander's Cup, The Men defeated Ironmen in two consecutive championship games. Nexus finished third and XSV fourth.[5]

=== Divisional competition ===

Organized Chaos won Division III at both Huntington Beach and Denver. Each Division I and Division II event was won by a different team.[1][2][3][4][5]

The Commander's Cup divisional winners were Regime in Division I, Deadbox Factory in Division II and Stormfront in Division III. These were tournament results rather than a list of season champions.[5]

== Season championship ==

Dynasty won the professional series championship, with XSV second overall. WARPIG's subsequent review of the early Super 7 seasons attributed XSV's position ahead of Infamous to its more consistent finishes across the season.[6]

Series rankings were distinct from individual tournament results. WARPIG's Commander's Cup report also noted that European Millennium Series results contributed to the professional ranking arrangements.[5]

== Developments during the season ==

=== Playing surfaces ===

Artificial turf replaced exposed sand on the Huntington Beach playing fields. Denver also used the NPPL's Action Turf, laid over the stadium parking area's asphalt surface.[1][3]

=== NXL player classification ===

By Denver, the [[National Xball League]] had relaxed its restrictions on players competing in Super 7 tournaments. The NPPL rules committee classified NXL participants as professional players within its own system.[3]

NXL franchise-name restrictions affected the names used by some entrants. Chicago Aftershock players competed as Shock, Los Angeles Ironmen players as The Men, and Oakland Assassins players as Ironmen.[3]

=== Qualification for 2005 ===

The final events carried additional importance because professional rankings helped determine eligibility for the following season's restricted professional division. Thirty-two professional teams entered the Commander's Cup, their last opportunity to earn ranking points during the 2004 season.[5]

== See also ==

* [[National Professional Paintball League]]
* [[NPPL Super 7]]
* [[Pure Promotions]]
* [[2003 NPPL season]]
* [[2005 NPPL season]]

== References ==

# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl/2004/hb/index.shtml “Huntington Beach”. WARPIG, 19–21 March 2004.]
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl/2004/tampa/index.shtml “Super 7 Tampa”. WARPIG, May 2004.]
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl/2004/denver/index.shtml Bill Mills and Dawn Mills, “Super 7 Denver”. WARPIG, July 2004.]
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl/2004/vegas/index.shtml Dawn Mills, “NPPL Las Vegas”. WARPIG, September 2004.]
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl/2004/sandiego/ “NPPL Commander's Cup 2004”. WARPIG.]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl/2006/boston/ “NPPL Boston”. WARPIG, 21–23 July 2006. Includes a review of the 2003–2005 professional series championships.]
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/articles/pressreleases/automated/122903nppl.shtml National Professional Paintball League, “NPPL Annual Meeting”. Report of the meeting held on 6 December 2003, published by WARPIG. Classification changes, game length and initial 2004 calendar.]
# [https://www.wikipaintball.com/index.php/2004_NPPL_Commander%27s_Cup “2004 NPPL Commander's Cup”. WikiPaintball. Existing event article, citing the San Diego Reader announcement of 11 November 2004 for the 12–14 November dates.]
# [https://www.classicscores.com/ ClassicScores. Historical 2004 NPPL seven-player results for Huntington Beach, Tampa, Denver, Las Vegas and the Commander's Cup.]

[[Category:National Professional Paintball League]]
[[Category:Paintball tournaments in the United States]]
[[Category:Paintball tournament results]]
[[Category:2000s in American paintball]]
[[Category:2004 in paintball]]