Top-ranked volleyball professionals may be few in number at the 50th Manhattan Beach Open this weekend if the city can’t scrounge up thousands of dollars in sponsorship prize money.
The Association of Volleyball Professionals’ (AVP) announcement last Friday cancelling the tournament left the city and the California Beach Volleyball Association pulling off a last-minute save of the event and scrambling to find sponsors willing to spend enough cash to draw the best players on the beach. The AVP pulled in a total of $252,000 in prize money last year, according to City of Manhattan Beach director of Parks and Recreation Richard Gill.
“It’s just sad that the AVP has to shut its doors,” said Steve Napolitano, former Manhattan Beach mayor and City Councilmember who started playing in the tournament when he was in high school. “My hope is that top-ranking players will still come. If we have the prize money, the top-ranking players should be there.”
The Manhattan Beach Open, known as the “Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball,” was one of five of the remaining tournaments – in addition to events in Hermosa Beach, San Francisco, Chicago and Cincinnati – cancelled on the 12-stop AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour this year after the AVP announced its financial collapse.
Manhattan Beach Mayor Ward said Tuesday that the city for weeks has been anticipating the AVP backing out. Staff officially got word last Friday afternoon, Gill said.
“When they pulled out this year, that left a void of not having anybody to step up and get access to the sponsors they usually get,” Ward said.
The AVP took over the tournament’s organization from the city in 1986. Its corporate sponsorships allowed for large cash prizes, stadium bleachers, tents and a VIP section, helping grow the Manhattan Beach Open from a small, local tournament into a large-scale, nationally televised athletic event.
While the tournament regularly attracts top-ranked players and Olympians, pre-qualifying rounds make it the only professional beach volleyball tournament open to amateurs good enough to place. Each year, first-place winners of the most prestigious contest in beach volleyball claim cash, bragging rights and the highly-coveted bronze volleyball-shaped plaques that line the Volleyball Walk of Fame on the Manhattan Beach Pier.
Last year’s top winners each walked away with $17,000.
“You can find great volleyball players up and down the beach any weekend,” Napolitano said. “But the Manhattan Open is about the best of the best and having to play the best of the best because everyone wants to win it and get their name on that pier.”
Napolitano fears that if a comparable amount of prize money isn’t made available this year, the tournament will not draw out the same number of professionals.
“This is their living,” Napolitano said. “They’re going to go where the money is.”
A lawsuit brought against the City of Manhattan Beach, the AVP and Los Angeles County by a small local interest group in the late ‘90s led to the organization’s cancellation of the tournament in 1997 and 1998. The city took over the contest both years and the tournament, returning it to its former low key atmosphere. Top AVP players were not allowed to play either year due to a boycott by the organization, according to Gill.
The city hopes the potential lack of sponsorships doesn’t deter AVP players from entering this year.
“The sponsors gave to the AVP,” Gill said. “Now that the AVP is out, we are scrambling to get other sponsors. The sponsors who were with the AVP said, ‘We already gave our money up to the point until it folded.’ So, as for prize money, we’re still trying.”
Former AVP president Kevin Cleary — who will play in his 34th Manhattan Beach Open tournament this weekend — hopes that the prestige of the time-honored contest continues, regardless of how much money is made available to winners.
“The volleyball community and top players need to come together and support this tournament,” he said. “It will show everyone that beach volleyball and the Manhattan Open continues and will recover from this unfortunate set back.”
Ward said former Vice President of Operations of the AVP Dave Williams offered to help find sponsorships.
“He called me last week and said he would be willing to step up to the plate to bring in money for compensation for the players,” Ward said.
Last year, the total cost of the tournament to the city was roughly $40,000, according to Gill. Without the fenced arena and private security brought in by the AVP, the city is reevaluating cost for enforcement and tournament officials.
“The cost to the city is still being determined,” Gill said.
One thing for sure, stadium seating and a VIP section will not be included in this year’s cost.
“We’re getting rid of the bleachers, the tents,” Gill said. “Back to the way it was prior to 1986, when the AVP got involved. The community in the past has always said they wanted it to go back to the old school way.”
“Getting back to focus on volleyball is what we’re all about here and we’re going to do our best to keep it that way,” Ward said.
If the AVP doesn’t pull it together next year, the city will be faced with the decision of whether to permanently take over running the event.
Like Cleary, Gill hopes that the dollar amount in prize money brought in will not affect the tournament’s attractiveness.
“We always felt the prestige of this tournament was to get your name on the Manhattan Beach Pier forever, so your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren could see it every year,” he said.
The Manhattan Beach Open qualifiers will start at 9 a.m. tomorrow at the south side of the pier. The main draw will take place at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, with the Championship games on Sunday. For more information, visit www.citymb.info. ER
