Beach in USA needs Volleyball World, USAV, AVP to go big before L.A. 2028

Finn Taylor.

Sean Scott.

Bobby Corvino.

Please remember these names, beach volleyball fans.

They are the power brokers behind the scenes, men who will ultimately set the course of beach volleyball for the next four-plus years in the United States, with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics looming large.

If beach volleyball does not plan effectively for 2028 beginning NOW, another opportunity like this may never happen again, not likely in my lifetime and probably yours, too.

Taylor/Scott/Corvino might sound like a white shoe law firm. None of the three are current players or coaches, although Scott was one of the best technical blockers in the history of the sand game. Yet this big three, in their respective roles with Volleyball World, USA Volleyball and the AVP, will, in different ways, set the direction of the sport for the foreseeable future.

Finn Taylor, Volleyball World

Volleyball World does not (yet) conduct tournaments in the United States.

Taylor, a Canadian who lives in Lausanne, Switzerland, has been the Volleyball World CEO for the past three years. Before his foray into the tangled landscape of beach volleyball, he was with another sort of circus, Cirque de Soleil, where he remained with the organization for almost 20 years, ending up as SVP of Touring Shows.

Taylor said he would like nothing more than to stage tournaments in the U.S., the world’s No. 1 market.

“We continue to look for promoters to work with in the U.S.. We have other events in North America (notably Montreal, Canada as well as several events in Mexico) each year, but are still looking for partners in the U.S.,” Taylor told us in an email interview.

“It’s a big priority for us to bring the Beach Pro Tour to the USA in the coming years.”

The problem, of course, is that no promoter in their right mind would put on a U.S. event. Unless, of course, they don’t mind hemorrhaging money.

Trust me: No U.S. promoter has EVER made money putting on an FIVB event.

And given the structures in place, it is almost impossible to do so.

In 1997, I was the director for NIKE of the first ever “true” World Championships of Beach Volleyball. And despite seven-figure sponsorship deals with Ericsson and NIKE, and a live television window on NBC, we still lost a boat load of money.

Similarly, I worked with both Leonard Armato (World Series of Beach Volleyball) and Kerri Walsh Jennings (p1440), and despite their best intentions to grab an international beach head with their events, they, too, were money losers.

Part of the problem for a local promoter is the onerous requirements placed on organizers by the FIVB. At least in the past, handcuffs were put on everything from the kind and quality of the playing sand, to the number of officials and “dignitaries” that had to be flown in from all corners of the world.

There are/were sponsorship category exclusivities that locked a promoter out of cutting his/her own deals. And, by the way, the local promoter still had to service…