Building the biggest and best airsoft field in the northwest

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Postby mossy » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:07 pm

Wouldnt you rather be the DI?
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Postby Pacman » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:08 pm

Good point, consider me corrected
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Postby shakespeare » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:09 pm

Logically...if he were really a poolee (DEPper) for the USMC, he would be off to boot camp soon. Which would mean...why the hell would he actually want to start a field?
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Re: Building the biggest and best airsoft field in the northwest

Postby Icepick » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:18 pm

Shakespeare wrote:AP doesn't troll honest questions that badly.


HAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAH! HA! HAHAHAHA! HA! Oh, man, that is seriously the best joke I've heard in a long time. :lol:

As mentioned hasn't this guy tried to pass off as some sort of Nascar driver/USMC spec. ops h4rdc0r3 bro? Before he can even my respect, he needs to take a typing class. But on a more serious note, a good location for a field would be somewhere in between the Portland area, and the Camas/Vancouver area.
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Re: Building the biggest and best airsoft field in the northwest

Postby Snowman » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:22 pm

Icepick wrote:As mentioned hasn't this guy tried to pass off as some sort of Nascar driver/USMC spec. ops h4rdc0r3 bro? Before he can even my respect, he needs to take a typing class. But on a more serious note, a good location for a field would be somewhere in between the Portland area, and the Camas/Vancouver area.


LOL, nobody on AP really cares what a teenager thinks of them, broski. Other way around is how it is/should be...

Plus, you need to lrn2typ.
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Postby Catch22 » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:25 pm

I love pipe dream threads.

Buy the land in Yamhill County. Then make the field look like a map from MW2
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Postby RiotingCows » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:28 pm

Someone should buy the Convention Center, its indoors, big, AND its all flat there!
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Postby Steve » Wed Jun 01, 2011 10:26 pm

I'd probably suggest starting with a business plan. There is a group called SCORE that helps prospective small businesses. It's generally run by older retired businessmen. They won't give you money, but they can help you nail down a business plan to take to a bank.

The next thing to do is some basic research. If you figure out how far most of your players will drive, and figure out roughly where they are, you can draw a couple of circles on a map that show you where to look for property. Well, circles aren't the exact right shape, since the distance / time equation changes based on the speed of the roadways travelled. But you get the picture.

Then, it is time to figure out what you are looking for in the property. Generally, I'd start by laying out a list of everything you want to be able to do. Then, I'd highlight the things from the list that are a must, which might be buildings, camping areas, access to electrical / sewer hookups, etc. Once you figure out the minimums, it's time to start looking at land costs to see how much the average piece of property that meets your needs costs.

If you can make the numbers work to have your projected revenue cover your projected operating costs, plus recover your initial capital investment in a timely manner, then it is all about writing your business plan and taking it in to the bank to get financing.

Once you have the money, and the land, then it is a matter of surveying your space, figuring out what you want to put where, and putting together whatever improvements you need to do to make it all work. You may end up having to build in phases. But do all of your planning in advance, so you build a coherent field. Engineer tape and wooden stakes work great for actually laying things out on the ground to get a better picture of how the end result will look. If you don't know what you are doing, contract the layout out to someone who does. But make sure it is a cohesive plan. Otherwise, you'll just end up tearing things down and moving them repeatedly. This takes time, leads to destroyed materials, and is just generally a pain in the butt.

Best of luck to you. I've run the numbers a good number of times now, and just cannot see a way to make an airsoft field pay for itself. Maybe if you have a pro shop on site, require field ammo, and can generate enough traffic to cover costs. But it's pretty iffy.
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Postby Darius137 » Thu Jun 02, 2011 8:39 am

Why buy the land? Just start hosting events in parts of Portland with minimal civilian use like NE Portland.
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Re: Building the biggest and best airsoft field in the northwest

Postby Icepick » Thu Jun 02, 2011 9:30 am

Snowman wrote:a teenager


Funny that you mention that! :roll: ;)

In relation to Steve's second paragraph. Maybe find out what field people are going to the most. You could probably start a thread with a poll if an admin or mod will grant you the power to do so. And depending on what the results are, go from there. If there was a field that was flatter, and had more buildings I'd pay money to play there.
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Postby Nimrod » Thu Jun 02, 2011 9:31 am

Dan has a point....well kind of. Try hosting games first to get a feel for what you would need for a good field, and/or talk to other game hosts and field owners and if your still seriouse about it take all that you've learned and put that into your " Biggest and best airsoft field in the NW"
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Postby ogrejager » Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:05 am

Steve wrote:Best of luck to you. I've run the numbers a good number of times now, and just cannot see a way to make an airsoft field pay for itself.


I agree.
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Postby Matt » Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:59 am

Build us a multi-million dollar MOUT facility. I'll play there.

Nobody wants to play at the same field every week. Most commercial Airsoft fields fail. My advice would be to buy multi-purpose land that you'll use for other stuff - then run some Airsoft games for extra cash. It won't cover the mortgage.

Also, disregard any advice here. Everyone answers these threads by suggesting you build it near them, without any sort of market research or hard data to back up their claims.
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Postby BoogeyMan » Thu Jun 02, 2011 12:08 pm

Well if you are truly considering this - check with the county you want to build to see if you're able to do so . . . I know a guy in Clackamas County is having trouble getting the permits to have an airsoft field. A lot of governments don't like airsoft and with the SB798 on the ballot right now you may be fighting an uphill battle and will ultimately be eating the cost.

Kudos to you for the heart of wanting to give it a shot - hate to be the bearer of bad news but it's probably not going to happen. Too much red tape.
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Postby Jester316 » Thu Jun 02, 2011 12:13 pm

BUILD US THUNDERDOME!

TWO MEN ENTER, ONE MAN LEAVES!
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