I think the "I hate speedball" crowd within paintball tends to be relatively loud, and gives a false impression that most players indeed hate speedball. What I'd suspect more is that the real majority of players are unaware or indifferent about speedball, because they don't play at organized fields. As for those who buy high end gear, most of them are likely willing to play just about any style, be it speedball, woods, scenario, one-v-one, magfed, pump, whatever. They want to PLAY.
There was a guy a handful of years ago who had a platform for his views through a video series, and a chip on his shoulder about "mainstream paintball". He'd rail against anything having to do with tournaments or the industry that were anything but how he thought paintball should be. I don't think he's been seen anywhere in the game in a few years now, and even those sightings were more like "oh, look who crawled back to the game he hates".