Association of Volleyball Professionals

History

1983{{ndash}}1997: Origins and early history

The AVP was formed in 1983 as a players' union. Following a dispute with a private promoter at the 1984 World Championships in Redondo Beach, California, the AVP began organizing its own men's tour in 1984. The 1985 AVP tour included stops in eight U.S. states with a total prize money of US$275,000. The sport experienced significant growth in the 1980s and 1990s, and by 1993, the AVP tour had a total prize money of US$3.7 million with ten events that were broadcast on NBC Sports and attended by over 600,000 people. The AVP began organizing women's events in 1993, competing with the Women's Professional Volleyball Association (WPVA), the main women's tour that began in 1986.

The AVP had conflicts with the sport's international governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), in the 1980s and 1990s over regulations and sponsorship.

1998{{ndash}}2010: Bankruptcies and restructuring

By 1997, sponsors started to withdraw due to the mounting financial problems and mismanagement in the AVP. In 1998, the AVP filed for bankruptcy and new management restructured the AVP from a players union to a for-profit privately owned company. The tour was bought out of bankruptcy the following year by Major League Volleyball and twelve events were held with a total prize money of US$1 million. In 2001, the tour was bought by Leonard Armato and his company Management Plus. The new tour combined the men's and women's professional tours.

In 2006, Crocs signed on as the title sponsor of the tour, which became known as the AVP Crocs Tour until its suspension in 2010. Other corporate sponsors for the tour included McDonald's, Nautica, Anheuser-Busch, Nature Valley and Xbox. By 2008, the AVP had an annual revenue of nearly US$25 million and were organizing as many as 31 events each year. However, the tour was hit badly by the 2008 financial crisis which saw it lose sponsors and revenue.

The AVP suspended its operations in August 2010, canceling the five remaining tournaments in the tour calendar and filing for bankruptcy once more. and the Jose Cuervo Pro Volleyball Beach Series, were formed.

2011{{ndash}}present: Re-emergence

The AVP was bought in December 2010 by DFA PVA II Partners, LLC, and a tournament was held in Huntington Beach, California in October 2011. The first full AVP season under Sun began in 2013. Facing competition from the NVL, the AVP required players competing on the 2017 AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour to sign a four-year exclusivity contract.

Since its re-emergence in 2013, the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour has once again established itself as the biggest professional beach volleyball tour in the United States, International players are allowed to play on the AVP tour as well if they have dual citizenship or permanent residency in the United States. Notable international players on the tour include Brazil's Ricardo Santos and Canada's Sarah Pavan.

On July 13, 2021, casino operator Bally's Corporation announced that it had acquired the AVP. The tour will leverage Sinclair Broadcast Group's Bally Sports regional sports networks as a distribution channel for AVP events.

In the fall of 2024, following a growth-capital and strategic investment from Next Generation Sports led by Heath Freeman, the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) launched the AVP League, a new city-based competition format featuring eight franchises, each composed of one men’s and one women’s pair. Teams competed during a regular season for a combined League Cup title and concluded with separate League Championships events. The league’s matches were broadcast nationally on The CW Network and CBS Sports Network.

The 2025 season marked the league’s second year under this format. While the structure represented a significant change for professional beach volleyball in the United States, its long-term viability has been debated. Volleyball journalist Larry Hamel described the venture as a “flawed league concept,” noting that despite strong athletes and national exposure, the sustainability of the AVP’s city-franchise model remains uncertain. (Hamel, All Volleyball, 2025)

Bally’s Corporation had previously acquired the AVP in 2021. The subsequent investment by Next Generation Sports positioned the new ownership group as key to revitalizing the AVP brand by the introduction of the league.

Rules

Since the 2017 season, there are two main differences between the AVP rules and standard beach volleyball rules. The first difference is that AVP matches have a "point freeze" at match point, wherein the scoring system changes from rally scoring (either team can score a point on every serve) to side-out scoring (only serving team can score a point) when either team reaches match point. This rule was introduced to allow for more comebacks. The second difference is that "let" serves, wherein the ball touches the net while crossing over into the opponent's court during service, are not allowed during "point freezes" and the serve will be replayed.

Tournament categories

The current tournament structure was introduced in 2017. AVP tournaments are categorized as either a "Gold Series" or "Open" event. Gold Series tournaments award more prize money and AVP national ranking points. For the 2017 Tour, Open events had a prize purse of US$150,000$158,000 while Gold Series events had a prize purse of US$175,000$225,000.

AVPNext and AVPFirst

AVPNext was started in 2014 as a developmental circuit, serving as a pipeline for future AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour players. AVPNext tournaments enable players to earn AVP national ranking points which are required for qualification and seeding in the Pro Tour events. The highest-ranked AVPNext teams from each region at the end of the season also receive direct entry into the Manhattan Beach Open. For the 2019 season, the AVPNext Gold events had a prize purse of US$20,000–25,000.

AVPFirst was launched in 2015 as a non-profit youth development program aimed at increasing youth participation in the sport through beach volleyball clinics and events. The inaugural AVPFirst Championships were held in Hermosa Beach, California in 2016 for boys and girls in the under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18 age groups. Teams qualified through a series of qualifying events throughout the country.

Television coverage

As of 2025, television coverage is shared between CBS Sports and CW Sports. The CW airs all Saturday events in primetime along with the Manhattan Beach Open. CBS Sports Network airs all other events, except for the AVP League Championship finals which airs on CBS.

AVP Awards

The AVP Awards Banquet takes place at the end of each year, honoring the tour's top performers based on statistics, player votes and AVP national ranking points earned during the year. Players submit names for each award category, except for Rookie of the Year.

Men's award winners

Women's award winners

References

References

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2. Connelly, Laylan. (May 3, 2017). "AVP beach volleyball is taking over Surf City". [[Orange County Register]].
3. (May 25, 2015). "AVP launches AVP First as part of the organization's developmental structure". AVP.com.
4. "Beach Volleyball History". bvbinfo.com.
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6. (May 23, 1997). "International Sports Law and Business, Volume 1". Kluwer Law International.
7. Anderson, Kelli. (September 3, 2001). "A New Beachhead After years of infighting nearly killed it, beach volleyball is trying a comeback".
8. Cody, Kevin. (May 31, 2001). "Cover Story - Bragging Rights". [[Easy Reader]].
9. Wong, Glenn. (2008). "The Comprehensive Guide to Careers in Sports". [[Jones & Bartlett Learning]].
10. Holmes, Baxter. (April 2, 2012). "Pro beach volleyball league AVP is sold to O.C. businessman". [[Los Angeles Times]].
11. Rykoff, Amanda. (August 31, 2012). "AVP beach volleyball tour returns". [[ESPN]].
12. Heitner, Darren. (October 16, 2013). "The Business Of Professional Beach Volleyball Shows Promise As Final Event Of 2013 Approaches". [[Forbes]].
13. Kaplon, Megan. (May 2, 2017). "AVP Player Contract Requires Exclusivity, Four-Year Commitment". FloVolleyball.
14. Chan, Ed. (April 29, 2017). "Most AVP players acquiesce and sign contract, exclusivity agreement". Volleyballmag.com.
15. Chan, Ed. (May 3, 2017). "From international players to a 66-year-old, AVP Huntington qualifier starts Thursday". Volleyballmag.com.
16. (March 22, 2018). "FIVB Huntington Beach Open FAQs". AVP.com.
17. "Bally's buys AVP, plans to air content on RSNs".
18. Kaplon, Megan. (May 1, 2017). "AVP To Continue Use Of Experimental Rule Changes In 2017". FloVolleyball.
19. Kaplon, Megan. (June 28, 2016). "AVP to Implement Two Rule Changes in Chicago". FloVolleyball.
20. (June 5, 2017). "Introducing The Gold Series". AVP.com.
21. (March 5, 2015). "AVP expands AVPNext developmental competition series". AVP.com.
22. (February 5, 2019). "AVPNext Offers 8 Premier Events With $125,000 In Prize Money and 8 Wild Cards To MBO". AVP.com.
23. (May 25, 2015). "AVP launches AVP First as part of the organization's developmental structure". AVP.com.
24. (July 28, 2017). "AVPFirst "thrilled" with turnout, championships". Volleyballmag.com.
25. (March 12, 2025). "AVP Strikes Historic Multi-Year Broadcast Agreements with CBS Sports and The CW Network".
26. Chan, Ed. (November 9, 2017). "Beach notes: AVP Awards, Serving Up Style, FIVB calendar, visiting the troops". Volleyballmag.com.
27. "AVP releases 2015 awards". [[USA Volleyball]].
28. Schuerman, Kim (December 15, 2022). [https://avp.com/news/2022-end-of-year-award-winners/ 2022 End of Year Award Winners.] AVP.
29. Mewhirter, Travis (October 29, 2023). [https://volleyballmag.com/2023-volleyballmag-mens-avp-awards-102923/ 2023 VolleyballMag Men’s AVP Awards: Miles Partain, Andy Benesh steal the show.] Volleyball Mag.