AVP brings new format for beach volleyball league to LA Tennis Center – Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES — Miles Evans finds himself constantly telling people that the sport he plays is “sand” volleyball, rather than “beach.”

He explains it in this way because the matches aren’t always held at the beach. Evans has competed in a myriad of venues, from parking lots in Tokyo, to the Eiffel Tower at the 2024 Paris Olympics. This weekend, he will play on 300 tons of sand that were delivered in trucks and spread with Bobcats across the Los Angeles Tennis Center, at UCLA, on Thursday morning, as the AVP crew manually created a beach volleyball court.

This will be the norm across the AVP’s 2024 season that will hold nine matches on man-made beach volleyball courts in arenas such as Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami and the Honda Center, in Anaheim.

These aren’t the only nuances the AVP is introducing. There’s a complete revamp of scheduling, match-scoring, and team-branding. Evans said he was skeptical of the AVP’s alterations, at first. He, however, was sold on the fact that these changes are less about him and more about the future of his sport.

“I’m willing to do whatever works for the AVP to move forward and for the sport to grow,” he said. “If the rules have to continue to change for it to work, then I’m all for it.”

Evans feels his competitors are similarly adaptable and that they trust the AVP’s vision. About a year ago, Robert Carvino, the AVP’s Chief Operating Officer, gathered the athletes to share his ideas for the future of the league and how the changes would put the fans at the forefront.

Julia Scoles, who won a beach volleyball national championship at USC and represents the LA Launch, admired how Carvino’s ideas prioritized the fans’ needs.

With its new format, the AVP is striving for a more digestible and enjoyable game that would increase popularity and fan buy-in. It consists of eight teams — each with a women’s and men’s pairing — representing different cities across the U.S. This format is intended to help fans attach themselves to the teams.

Rather than hosting crowded tournaments, each weekend will feature four of those teams playing two matches that will count toward their progressive record.

“The AVP league allows you to choose exactly who you’re supporting and when they’re going to play,” Scoles said. “It’s something that can be built and just there’s consistency, there’s stability.”

Scoles believes this model is sustainable. It’s easier to root for a team that has a known brand. It’s easier to follow that team when the schedule is clearly laid out, ahead of the season.