Association of Volleyball Professionals

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The Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) is an American beach volleyball association. It represents the interests of professionals in this sport and has been organizing its own series of tournaments since 1984. In 2010 the AVP got into an existential crisis due to financial problems.

history

The AVP was founded on July 21, 1983. Beach volleyball tournaments were being held in the United States at the time, but players were unhappy with the marketing. The new association should offer professionals new opportunities to assert their interests.

After a strike by American players at the unofficial World Cup in Redondo Beach , the new association introduced the AVP Tour as a separate tournament series in 1984 . After the first television reports about the competition in 1986, the live broadcasts on NBC caused a boom in the early 1990s with increased interest from sponsors and rising prize money. After the first tournaments were reserved for men only, competitions for women took place for the first time in 1993, which had previously been organized in the Women's Professional Volleyball Association (WPVA).

At the end of the 1990s, the AVP got into financial difficulties for the first time, which led to lower sponsorship income and prize money for the 1998 tour. In 2001 the AVP united the competitions for men and women. In 2007 she created the first indoor beach volleyball series with “Hot Winter Nights”. The global financial crisis also hit the AVP, which filed for bankruptcy in summer 2010 . In the following years there were several changes of ownership and restructuring before the AVP Tour took place again in 2013.

AVP tour

The AVP tournament series takes place parallel to the competitions of the world association FIVB . It consists of several tournaments that are held in various American cities throughout the spring and summer. The number of stations has fluctuated over the past few decades. Up to 26 tournaments took place in the financially successful years.

AVP Next and AVP First

In 2014, the AVP introduced the AVP Next tournament series. There are players active there who are not yet professionals. The highest ranking tournaments of AVP Next are categorized as Gold and Gold +. There is also a category for young players under the age of 26.

AVP First was introduced in 2015 to promote young talent. There are tournaments for different age groups.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Beach Volleyball History. Beach Volleyball Database, accessed August 6, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Season List. Beach Volleyball Database, accessed August 6, 2020 .
  3. ↑ AVP expands AVP Next developmental competition series. AVP, March 5, 2015, accessed on August 6, 2020 .
  4. ↑ AVP Next. AVP, accessed on August 6, 2020 .
  5. ↑ AVP launches AVP First as part of the organization's developmental structure. AVP, May 25, 2015, accessed on August 6, 2020 .