FIVB president Ary Graca wanted something truly remarkable if he was to bring his international tour to California. Leonard Armato welcomed the challenge
Inside Leonard Armato’s office is a clock that counts days, hours and minutes backwards. The numbers represent the time remaining until the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball. The July 22 through July 28 competition in Long Beach will be the largest beach volleyball event ever held in the U.S., and possibly the world.
“Every minute counts,” said Armato, co-creator and promoter of the event. “It will be the most extraordinary beach volleyball event in the history of the planet. It will ignite the entire volleyball community. Nothing like this has ever been done. It combines beach volleyball and beach lifestyles.”
The week will feature AAU youth tournaments, the collegiate sand volleyball championships, amateur 4-man and 6-man tournaments and the top professional players in the world.
The event is the first Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) sanctioned Grand Slam tournament in the United States since 2003. The highlight of the week and will the inaugural ASICS World Series Cup, which will feature the top U.S. men’s and women’s teams competing against the best teams from elsewhere in the world, similar to golf’s Ryder Cup.
NBC Sports Group, the FIVB, USA Volleyball and Armato’s Management Plus Enterprises are anteing up $500,000 in prize money. In addition to title sponsor Asics, Bud Light, Paul Mitchell, Sabra, Barefoot Wine, Nestea and Mikasa have also signed on as sponsors.
More than 20 hours of programming will be provided by NBC, NBC Sports Network and Universal Sports, including telecasts of the men’s and women’s Grand Slam finals and ASICS World Series Cup Finals.
“Not only will we have the best players in the world competing as they did in the Olympic Games, but we will go beyond that by incorporating the highest level of four-person and six-person beach volleyball,” Armato said. “Finally, we will also be integrating a beach music festival throughout the event.”
Armato, who lives on The Strand in Manhattan Beach, just north of the pier Volleyball Walk of Fame, is a former AAA beach volleyball player and was CEO of the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) from 2002-2009.
He said he was inspired to create the World Series event after seeing beach volleyball’s star rising at the London Olympics last summer, while fading away in the U.S., where the sport was founded.
Armato met with the CEO of NBC Sports about how to reinvigorate the sport in the U.S. He then spoke with FIVB president Ary Graca about the FIVB holding an event in the U.S.
“Graca told me that we must design an event that would be remarkable,” Armato said.
Armato convinced the FIVB president he could do that.
“We are very pleased to return to the traditional home of beach volleyball in the United States and California,” Graca said in a recent statement. “The ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball Long Beach will be one of 10 Grand Slam events for what will be a dynamic beach volleyball season that reaches all the major volleyball countries of the world, ensuring beach volleyball has a global presence and bright future.”
Tapping into the culture
“This event is like chiseling David out of a block of marble. It’s a big undertaking that’s never been done before,” Armato said.
The ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball is designed to tap into what’s trending in pop culture: Celebrity athletes at the top of their game, the tribal aspect of 6-man competition, the social aspect of 4-man version and music festivals.
At the celebrity level, the WSOBV marks the return to competition of three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and husband Casey Jennings – also a professional volleyball standout – had their third child and first daughter, Scout Margery, in April. The couple has two boys, Joey, 4, and Sundance, 3 and live in Manhattan Beach.
Walsh Jennings originally planned to resume play on the AVP tour in August, but accelerated her training for the WSOBV.
“I am excited that the FIVB is returning to the U.S. after a 10-year absence,” Walsh Jennings said. “To represent my country for global bragging rights in the inaugural World Series Cup and having the chance to capture the title, adding to my three Olympic medals, will be amazing.”
Walsh Jennings will team with Whitney Pavlik, who dominated domestic tournaments last season with partner Jenny Kropp.
Pavlik, however, won’t be the one to replace Walsh Jennings’ longtime partner Misty May Treanor, who retired after the duo won their third consecutive Olympic gold medal in London last summer. That job will fall to Olympic silver medalist April Ross who, along with Jennifer Kessy, played against Walsh Jennings and May Treanor in the Olympic gold-medal match last summer in London.
“I’m accelerating my return time by a month,” Walsh Jennings said. “It’s scary but I’m working very hard to give my best showing. Leonard Armato is a very ambitious man and I’m inspired by the significance of the event. It’s very innovative and they’re pulling out all the stops.
“I love being an American and my job is representing America – the best country in the world. The people who will be watching the event on NBC know me as a winner. I want to win the cup and ride the wave all the way to Rio (Rio de Janeiro, the site of the 2016 Olympics).”
Armato is equally excited to have Walsh Jennings begin her comeback in Long Beach.
“Kerri is a true icon of the sport,” Armato said. “She’s the greatest player in the game and a tremendous role model. She’s well spoken, tall, beautiful and a truly remarkable athlete. With her size and athleticism, she’s almost a freak of nature but in a good way. Kerri will break Misty’s record soon.”
With 109 career tournament wins, Walsh Jennings is only three behind record-holder May Treanor.
Man in the background
Armato has enjoyed a similar string of beach volleyball hits, but off the court.
During his tenure with the AVP, he brought Crocs footwear on board as the tour’s title sponsor.
“After joining the AVP, Crocs stock rose from $15 to $75 in 18 months,” Armato noted.
Armato’s Management Plus Enterprises has represented such notable athletes as Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Ronnie Lott, Hakeem Olajuwon, Ahmad Rashad, Oscar De La Hoya and Shaquille O’Neal.
In May 2012, Armato took the position of Chairman-Managing Director of Leverage Agency, a sports and entertainment marketing firm. Previously, he was chief marketing officer and president of Manhattan beach-based shoe giant Sketchers’ Fitness Group.
“I would say I am best known for creating a system (Marketing Coalition Systems) of converting fame into equity, using other people’s money,” Armato said. “The thing I do is branding a career – for instance the Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal) and Golden Boy (Oscar De La Hoya) brands.”
Under Armato’s guidance, O’Neal became involved with music, television and interactive programs. De La Hoya translated his boxing success into the boxing promotions. Armato also helped him create a music label that included a Grammy nomination for the former boxer.
The former basketball star at the University of the Pacific (Armato still holds the single season assist record of 178 set in the 1973-74 season) is currently on the Harlem Globetrotters board of directors. He was instrumental in making the team’s TV commercial for Wonderful Pistachios.
Armato began his promotions career after earning a law degree from the University of San Diego in 1978.
He was the commencement speaker at the USD Law School graduation in 2009. He received the Law School’s “Distinguished Alumni” Award in 2007.
The Leonard Armato Entrepreneurial Scholarship provides $20,000 to the recipient along with the opportunity of mentorship by Armato.
He remains physically fit, and lives within serving distance of the volleyball courts at the Manhattan Beach pier, but he said his work schedule prevents him from playing volleyball as much as he’d like.
“I haven’t played in about a year,” he confessed. “I’ve been working too hard. I used to play with Holly (wife and beach volleyball 2004 Athens Olympics bronze medalist Holly McLean) but I’m not as competitive now.”
For more information about the World Series of Beach Volleyball, visit wsobv.com.
