Dallas may be quite far from the beach. However, the company is trying to establish its own professional beach volleyball team, actually two teams. So there's no doubt that truckloads of sand will soon be heading to North Texas.
The Association of Volleyball Professionals, the premier professional beach volleyball league in the United States founded 40 years ago in 1983, announced the launch of the AVP League, a professional beach volleyball league. With eight founding teams that are gender equal in competition and compensation, the league's home markets will be Dallas, Austin, Los Angeles, San Diego, New York, Brooklyn, Miami and Palm Beach.
Each city has one men's starting team and one women's starting team. According to AVP, the top overall teams will participate in a post-season playoff tournament and championship match.
The news comes a year after the Pro Volleyball Federation, an indoor women's volleyball league, announced its own launch in Frisco and Columbus, Ohio. PVF is scheduled to go to court in February 2024 and recently announced a major equity investment from pop and R&B star Jason Derulo.
[Photo: AVP]
Player draft is scheduled to be held in 2024
To solidify all of these teams with experienced sandy players, the AVP is League will hold a draft in Manhattan Beach, Calif., ahead of its inaugural season in 2024.
AVP Chief Operating Officer Robert Corvino called the introduction of the AVP League “a major transformation for the sport of volleyball and for AVP, which has continued to grow for 40 years.”
“This builds on the best traditions of the past and creates exciting new opportunities for players and fans in the future,” Corvino added in a statement.
Three-time Olympic medalist April Ross praised the move.
“AVP has identified an opportunity for evolution, and we are excited that these changes will put beach volleyball on par with other professional sports,” Ross said in a statement. “The goal has always been to grow the sport, create more opportunities for athletes and ensure the success of national organizations, and I am confident the AVP League will do just that.”
Alix Kleinman, another Olympic gold medalist, said the league was created with athletes in mind.
“I appreciate AVP's commitment to listening to athletes, providing a format that benefits them, and fostering the growth of the sport,” Kleinman said.
Andy Benesh, who hopes to compete as a member of a future U.S. Olympic team in beach volleyball, called the league “the shakeup that players and fans have been asking for.” He said it would “definitely bring a new element to our sport”.
In addition to the new league, AVP said it will reimagine the traditional two-person team tournament as the AVP Heritage Series. Next season's AVP Heritage Series will feature multiple weekend tournaments in major cities across the country, including Southern California, Miami and Chicago.
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