In latest blow to longtime series, Blanton and
Fonoimoana are expected<br> to join upstart Beach Volleyball
America tour. <br><br> Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana,
gold-medal winners in beach<br> volleyball at the Sydney
Olympics, have left the Assn. of Volleyball<br>
Professionals and are expected to join the new Beach Volleyball
America<br> tour. <br><br> With the help of their lawyers,
Blanton and Fonoimoana have been<br> released from their
AVP contracts after several months of acrimony
and<br> bitterness. <br><br> Blanton and Fonoimoana, who
fought openly with the AVP last year in a<br> dispute
over qualifying for the Olympics, are strong additions
to the<br> BVA, which started last year as a women's
tour but will add a men's tour<br> when the season
tentatively begins in April. <br><br> The move of Blanton and
Fonoimoana to the BVA is the latest blow to<br> the AVP,
which was established in 1983 but has undergone
several<br> recent changes. <br><br> The AVP's Marina del Rey
headquarters have been closed and operational<br> authority
has been transferred to Wall Street, home of the
venture-capital<br> company that rescued the AVP from bankruptcy in
March 1999. <br><br> Bill Berger, AVP chief executive
officer, has been ousted, and power<br> now rests with
Spencer Segura, senior managing director of corporate<br>
finance at Spencer Trask Ventures Inc in New York.
<br><br> "We've had our headaches with this thing," Segura
said. "We've tried to<br> let [the AVP] manage it on
their own. Only when we've had real<br> problems have
we gotten involved. Now we're getting involved."
<br><br> Segura denied that the AVP, which has remained
cash-strapped since<br> being acquired by Spencer Trask and has
yet to announce a schedule for<br> the 2001 season,
is on the verge of folding. <br><br> "It's almost a
break-even proposition," Segura said. "We wanted to get<br>
really professional management in. I think in the long
run we're going to<br> bring expert management to the
company that hasn't been seen by the<br> volleyball
arena. It's so close to working, we want to keep it
going." <br><br> Segura doubted that the BVA would pose a
threat to the AVP, even with<br> Blanton and Fonoimoana.
<br><br> "I think the AVP has a bigger following than the
BVA," he said. "If you<br> ask any beach volleyball
nut, they've heard of the AVP. They haven't<br> heard
of the BVA." <br><br> With a smaller court, a
heavier ball and rally-scored matches, the rules of<br>
the BVA mirror those of international tournaments,
including the<br> Olympics. <br><br> Segura doesn't foresee
letting AVP players out of their stringent<br> contracts
to play in BVA events. If that's the case, the BVA
will have to<br> use players who don't belong to the
AVP--Sinjin Smith, Carl Henkel,<br> Kevin Wong, Rob Heidger,
Jeff Nygaard and Dan Landry, among others. <br><br>
The problem between the AVP and Blanton-Fonoimoana
began last June.<br> Blanton and Fonoimoana were
suspended briefly by the AVP because<br> they registered
for an international tournament in Italy that was
being<br> played at the same time as an AVP tournament in
Muskegon, Mich. <br><br> The only way to earn points toward
Olympic qualifying was in<br> international tournaments.
Under the language of their contracts,<br> however,
Blanton and Fonoimoana needed permission from the AVP
to<br> compete in non-AVP tournaments. <br><br> The duo
spurned the AVP, earned enough points to qualify for
the<br> Olympics and stunned the beach volleyball world
by winning the gold at<br> Sydney. <br><br> The
animosity continued after the Olympics. A solution couldn't
be<br> found . . . until now. <br><br> "Because we are
out of our contracts, we are free agents,"
Fonoimoana<br> said. "They don't hold us hostage anymore."