Changes loom large as AVP kicks off 2022 tiered-tourney season May 6
When the AVP conducts its first major event of the 2022 season, don’t go early. There’s no qualifier May 6-8 in Austin, Texas.
Rather, the qualifier was conducted this past weekend in Panama City, Florida, as part of AVP America’s $20,000 AVPNext.
And that’s just one of the many big changes to the AVP as the domestic pro-beach volleyball tour enters a new era in 2022, the first full season under the ownership of Bally’s, the casino-entertainment company.
Donald Sun, who owned and ran the AVP for much of the past decade, has moved on, but his three right-hand men remain. Al Lau is now the CEO, joined by longtime senior director Jeff Conover and longtime senior vice president Josh Glazebrook.
The biggest change is with the schedule.
Like last year, there are still three Gold Series events: AVP Atlanta Open August 5-7, AVP Manhattan Beach Open August 19-21, and AVP Chicago September 2-4.
But now there is also a Pro Series, and, with even more opportunities for players, a Tour Series. The complete schedule follows.
As the AVP says it, “The 2022 AVP Season will consist of 16 total events: 15 events across three different event tiers, with one Championship for the top 6 teams per gender to compete for the 2022 Season title.”
There are a lot of challenges, of course.
“We’re looking forward to the season. It’s going to be exciting,” Lau said. “It’s exciting to launch this whole new tier structure in terms of understanding where we are as a sport, and we’re really looking forward to actually having fans again. That’s the biggest thing for all us.”
Indeed. In 2020, the AVP conducted three tournaments, all in a fan-less bubble in Long Beach, California. Last summer, there was Atlanta, MBO and Chicago along with various smaller tournaments, but not coordinated like the way the AVP is structured this year. Bally’s announced its purchase in July, but it was business as usual the rest of the way.
“I think what’s really important is to be able to have a true sense of the developmental pipeline on the pro side,” Lau said of the tier structure. “Especially with the advent of NCAA (women’s beach volleyball), it gives aspiring and young players a chance to map out what’s currently evolving globally, not just domestically, in terms of the different event structures in what the marketplace is about to embark on.”
Volleyball World (formerly the FIVB World Tour), coincidentally, also developed a tier structure.
But the two tours made their changes without knowledge of the other, Lau said.
“It was coincidental,” Lau said with a smile. “I would say great minds think alike. Totally coincidental.”
In the case of the AVP, it means no qualifiers and ” … people are going to probably be a little disappointed that you can’t see aspiring people the same week as the event,” Lau said, “but I think in the long run it enhances the event and makes it less of an operational challenge.”
Qualifiers are long and grueling and those that advance from a tedious Thursday rarely knock off the experienced, talented pairs waiting for them on Friday.
“Definitely I think everyone wants to figure out a different way of approaching things and I think the tier structure is going to be that first attempt,” Lau said. “I think everybody knows transition is hard and you don’t know what you don’t know. But I think everyone is really enthusiastic about having a more clearly defined distinction between what are the types of events and what that means if you’re an aspiring player and trying to play in them. As well as a fan, actually, with different opportunities to get to different places, as well.”
But for the fans who won’t travel, well, the tournaments will be televised, but the AVP is still finalizing details. There is no doubt that Bally’s — which runs through Sinclair Broadcast Group what used to be called the roughly 19 Fox regional sports networks and are now called Bally Sports — plans plenty of pro beach volleyball to air on not only its many TV outlets, but more.
Neither Lau, nor Adi Dhandhania, Bally’s senior vice president for strategy and interactive, revealed the broadcast plans. They said we’ll know soon how we will be able to watch the AVP and who will announce the matches.
In addition to the sports networks, there are some potentially exciting new venues, including the Tennis Channel and about 190 Sinclair stations in 86 markets with various network affiliations.
“We will be using all of those means, and mind you Sinclair also has a national platform that they own, the Tennis Channel,” Dhandhania said.
In the not so recent past, AVP was seen on NBC and an NBCSports, which doesn’t exist any longer. The past couple of seasons, the AVP was shown on Amazon Prime.
The other question is about gaming. Will there be betting on the AVP? And when will it be in place?
“The gamification strategy isn’t different than what I communicated last July,” Dhandhania said. “When we talk about gamification, we talk about engagement, and engagement to us is what we can bring to free-to-play assets, our daily fantasy assets, and then eventually people will want to place a bet or a wager, they’ll be able to do so.
“Our view this year and this season is no different. One was let’s get the distribution and let’s get more games on the docket. We’ve done that. How we engage with fans, we’ll still explore that. We haven’t made a decision yet, but we have some free-game mechanics that exist, so you can expect us to launch some free games that would engage our viewers and users of the platform, alongside attendees at events.”
Dhandhania said that will allow Bally’s to compile data and decide how to move forward, but there won’t be betting, per se, at the start.
“Betting will come eventually, but that’s not how you lead. You need to develop a product that is mass market, content that people enjoy, and then be able offer different means of engagement.”
Dhandhania said there are people who are passionate about the sport, “and the best testament to that is putting your money down, right? But there is a roadway to get there.”
“We very much think of this is a foundational year. One of change, a year of transformation. We have a leader like Al, who is going to be taking charge and has been around the property for over two decades. We’re not beach volleyball experts at Bally’s, we’re just a gaming and entertainment company.
“We’re very excited about the season. We’re looking forward to seeing what Al tries for us this year. Sixteen games is monumental and getting the distribution across multiple platforms will help us learn and, more importantly, give us data we need.”
This past weekend in Panama City Beach, Florida, four pairs got bids into the Austin Open. On the men’s side, the winners were Seain Cook and Logan Webber, who beat Caleb Kwekel and Marty Lorenz in the final 21-15, 18-21, 15-10. Mark Burik and Dave Palm, who finished third, also claimed a main draw berth. But because Webber is already playing in Austin with John Hyden, his main draw bid with Cook trickled down to the fifth-place finishing team of Lev Priima and Lila Tucker. And, because third-place finishers Evan Cory and Bill Kolinske also are already into the main draw, their bid went to Raffe Paulis and Jeff Samuels.
On the women’s side, winners were Larissa and Liliane Maestrini, who beat Carly Kan and Leary in the final 21-15, 17-21, 18-16. The semifinal losers were Toni Rodriguez and Savvy Simo, and Jessica Gaffney and Molly Turner.
Because Larissa and Liliane — the seasoned Brazilian veterans who last summer finished third at Manhattan Beach and lost in the final in Chicago — had already qualified for Austin, there was a “lucky loser.” That bid went to Aurora Davis and Teegan Van Gunst, who lost to Turner and Gaffney in the quarterfinals.
2022 AVP schedule
Gold Series — Three-day events, 16-32 teams, with $300,000 purses.
Pro Series — Three-day events, 16 teams, with a $125,000 purses.
Tour Series — Two-day events, 24 teams, $50,000 purses.
Championship — Two-day event, top six teams per gender, $100,000 purse.
Austin Open, May 6-8, AVP Pro Series
New Orleans Open, May 27-29, AVP Pro Series
Muskegon Open, June 11-12, AVP Tour Series
Denver Open, July 2-3, AVP Tour Series
Waupaca Open, July 8-9, AVP Tour Series
Hermosa Beach Open, July 8-10, AVP Pro Series
Atlantic City Open, July 23-24, AVP Tour Series
Fort Lauderdale Open, July 29-31, AVP Pro Series
Atlanta Open, August 5-7, Gold Series
Manhattan Beach Open, August 19-21, Gold Series
Virginia Beach Open, August 27-28, AVP Tour Series
Chicago Open, September 2-4, Gold Series
Atlantic City Open, September 16-18, AVP Pro Series
Phoenix Championships, September 23-24, Championship
Huntington Beach Open, November 12-13, AVP Tour Series
Clearwater Open, November 19-20, AVP Tour Series
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