After five year ‘cool off,’ Manhattan Beach’s 6 Man volleyball tournament will run on Friday, Saturday
A previous running of the Manhattan Beach 6 Man, when it was held on Saturday and Sunday and drew tens of thousands of people to the sand. File photo
Citing concerns about the continued viability of the historic event and confident that public safety impacts had been addressed, the Manhattan Beach City Council Tuesday night approved a change in schedule for the 6 Man beach volleyball tournament, allowing the event to run one of its two days on a weekend.
Councilmembers unanimously approved allowing the tournament, known as the Charlie Saikley 6-Man Beach Volleyball Tournament, to run Friday August 4 and Saturday August 5 this year. Pending new direction from the council the event will run on the first Friday and Saturday of August in coming years.
The change comes after previous rescheduling to accommodate resident concerns over raucous crowds generated by the tournament. Run for more than 50 years, by the late aughts the the 6 Man had become an international party destination. Celebrities and professional athletes descended on the South Bay to join teams, and hordes of spectators crowded the sand. By varying estimates, about 70,000 revelers attended in the 2009 tournament.
By 2012, residents had had enough, and the council voted to move the tournament to Tuesday and Wednesday, then Wednesday and Thursday, and finally to Thursday and Friday, the days of operation for the last three years.
The weekday schedule did reduce quality of life impacts by diminished the number of spectators; the Manhattan Beach Police Department estimated that about 2,000 people attended the 2016 tournament. But with fewer eyes to attract, sponsors left the event, threatening its finances. And the weekend schedule caused participation to plummet, and organizers said the schedule was threatening the existence of an important part of the city’s history. According to event organizer Jay Saikley, son of the tournament’s namesake, 198 teams participated in the 2009 tournament, while just 47 entered last year.
“This thing will die if we don’t make some changes,” said Kevin Cleary, who has played in the tournament for 44 years.
Saikley said organizers were not seeking a return to the Saturday-Sunday schedule. The first day of the tournament features twice as many teams as the second, and traditionally draws far more spectators. By having the first day fall on a Friday and the second on Saturday, organizers found a compromise acceptable to the city.
Because the department have no historical data for how a Friday-Saturday schedule will operate, there will still be a significant police presence for the event, said Chief Eve Irvine.
Mayor pro tem Amy Howorth, who was on the council when the first schedule change was approved, said that the intent of the schedule change had always been a “cooling off period,” rather than ending the tournament entirely. The recent calmness of the tournament was an indication that the measures had worked.
“I had always assumed that we were not trying to kill the tournament,” Howarth said. “And they have followed the guidelines, they have followed our rules.”