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BY JOE FAVORITO
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
ON N.J. SPORTS MARKETING
For years, the AVP (Association of Volleyball Pros) Tour has made the Jersey Shore a must-stop on their summer tour. Whether it has been Atlantic City, Belmar or Seaside Heights, the world's top volleyball athletes are always a huge draw for fans, sponsors and media coverage to the area when it is needed most.
However in recent years, the economy has taken its toll on all sports, big and small, and niche sports like Pro Beach Volleyball have suffered. The combination of a post-Olympics lull, a title sponsor (Crocs) in financial distress, and a transition time as stars like Misty May Treanor, Holly McPeak, and Kerri Walsh enter the twilight of their careers, has given the Tour as many challenges as it has faced in recent years.
Could that mean that the regular summer week of pro volleyball would disappear from the Shore? Well hopefully not now, thanks to the help of Monmouth University.
Like most sports, the AVP needs a healthy developmental program to fuel that growth and interest, and last year got a much-needed boost when the NCAA approved sand volleyball as a sport starting in 2011.While not directly tied to the college side since the circuit is professional, it gave the AVP, and the Olympic movement, a very bright future. However, a number of NCAA schools began a push to get that vote overturned last week, citing unfair competitive advantages for warm weather schools. The argument was a fairly weak one...the same argument could be made against baseball and softball and was a great slight toward Title IX, since many schools would add a women's discipline. And this past Friday the push to overturn was defeated.
For a niche lifestyle sport like the AVP, the move forward provides buzz, further legitimacy for brands that may be on the fence to join in during an Olympic lull, and a more fertile proving ground for the next stars in waiting.
The big help came from Monmouth Athletic Director Dr. Marilyn McNeil, who was one of five athletic directors to stand up for the sport, even though the Hawks do not yet offer beach volleyball, and plans are unsure if they will.
McNeil saw the need for any school to add a sport that makes good financial sense and can assist in the ongoing battle for increased opportunities for young women, and was a vocal lobbyist in Atlanta. The sport now has a chance to begin in 2011 on the official collegiate level, a lead-in year for the 2012 London Games, and with the renewed assistance will hopefully bring another crop of rising stars back to the beach for years to come.
With the continued AVP presence in Jersey comes added dollars for the local economy, job opportunities for summer staff and positive media attention at a time of year when the business community needs it most. Also, maybe somewhere down the road the Hawks will decide to add beach volleyball – helping grow the sport on the collegiate level and making Monmouth an anchor for a rising sport, again bringing added interest, enrollment and potential sponsors to a university that is having a great year after opening its new arena in the fall.
Can the AVP survive without play on the college level? Sure, but in these challenged times when sponsor dollars are even tighter, the vote for moving forward with beach volleyball on the collegiate level was a big step forward when many secondary sports are losing more and more leverage, and a continued presence in the fabric of New Jersey sports.
Joe Favorito has over 23 years of strategic communications/marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. Visit him at JoeFavorito.com.
