Why not follow the structure and player classes of another extreme sport like skateboarding. Have both Pro and Amateur contests just like in the X Games or NSA series.

There are only two types of competitions, Pro and Am. There are four different classes of competitor.

  • Professional - Top pros are paid salary and some even design signature parts. They can have as many sponsors as one can gather even unrelated products like red bull.
  • Amateur A (Sponsored) - Sponsored Ams get all the free product they need, travel pay, entry fees and if they win overall for the year they inevitably go Pro.
  • Amateur B (Flow) - They only get some free parts and the rest is up to them
  • Amateur C (Unsponsored)- It's all out of their own pocket and all they can win is a share of the contest purse


The Purses for the Pro contests are huge - $100,000 for first. The top amateurs might pull $10,000. This would mean that sponsors would have to dive in and cough up the dough, none of the free video card baloney. Amateurs who perform well will catch the interest of sponsors by performing well not by hammering sales reps with emails begging for samples.

There would also be room for a couple more magazines and web sites to promote the OCers, parts, competitions and the free spirit, non competitive types who still have amazing skills to showcase.

I think if a few legit magazines were on the shelves next to Computer Shopper and the events got a lot of coverage on the web at sponsor sites and maybe TV it could be a great PR and advertising model. The interest generated could trickle down to gamers and sell a lot of parts.

You could still have the lone wolves who hate corporate BS and don't compete.