Professional beach volleyball returns to S. Florida
Posted April 6 2003
Sun Sentinel
After a 12-year absence and successful return this weekend, professional beach volleyball is expected to return to South Florida with two major tournaments before the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
The AVP Nissan Series is expected to open the 2004 domestic season again in Fort Lauderdale with the Paul Mitchell Open in April.
The FIVB, featuring the world's top countries, including Brazil, will have a tour stop the week before or after the domestic tournament. The leading site is the Key Biscayne Tennis Center.
"We hope to come back," AVP Commissioner Leonard Armato said. "Those are all real possibilities.
"Hopefully, the city will want us back. Obviously, we want to see the stands completely full and that means residents are excited about it enough to come down to the event. We're going to evaluate how this event did and decide soon so we can start advance planning and make it work."
The sport, which made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Atlanta Games, is regaining momentum after a dip in revenue and television exposure.
The AVP has joined forces with the FIVB, USA Volleyball and NBC Sports to increase the popularity of the outdoor game.
The AVP and USA Volleyball have formed a committee of four members from the AVP and four members from USA Volleyball, which meets by conference call every two weeks.
Entering its 20th season, the AVP has 150 of the best men's and women's pro beach volleyball players.
"We have a three- to five-year plan that we have to execute every single year at the highest level," Armato said. "This will be a growing year like coming to new markets like Fort Lauderdale and hopefully staying here."