Volleyball circuit owner plans to unify sport
(USA Today) Breaking news!!!<br>By David Leon
Moore<br>LOS ANGELES : Agent Leonard Armato hopes his latest
involvement with the financially <br>struggling sport of pro
beach volleyball turns out as well as what's going on
recently with <br>his biggest client, Los Angeles Lakers
center Shaquille O'Neal.Armato will announce today
<br>that he has acquired the Association of Volleyball
Professionals and will unify competing <br>beach volleyball
circuits into one domestic tour the AVP, which will
feature both men's <br>and women's competition.Armato
founded the AVP in 1983 and led it to surprising heights
<br>$100,000 first-prize purses, live network TV, recognizable
stars such as Sinjin Smith<br>and Karch Kiraly before
being ousted by the players in a political flap in
1989.Gaining <br>Olympic status seemed to give the sport a
stamp of approval, and it was a big hit in Atlanta
<br>in 1996. But sponsorship and TV money dried up in
the late 1990s, and at the end of 1998, <br>the AVP
declared bankruptcy.It reorganized and limped along the
last 2 years with drastic <br>cuts in events and prize
money.Armato's plan: unify, rebuild burned bridges and market,
<br>market, market."In the past, the players owned the AVP,
and they sucked out every dollar <br>into prize
money, so there wasn't any real marketing effort,"
Armato says. "The importance <br>of their sponsors and
the importance of TV were just not recognized. The
thing just <br>crumbled because of a self-driven,
ego-motivated attitude. I've told the players that we have
<br>to sell this sport 24 hours a day to the fans, to
sponsors, to TV."Armato has all the top <br>U.S. players,
men and women, signed to 4-year agreements with three
exceptions. The <br>reigning Olympic gold medalists, Dain
Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana, have not signed up. <br>They
are concerned about protecting their sponsors and
about freedom to compete on the <br>FIVB international
tour."It's a tour-friendly deal, not a player-friendly
deal," Blanton says <br>of Armato's contracts. "To be
that handcuffed is very difficult."But Armato and
Blanton <br>both say they expect to reach an agreement.
On the women's side, Olympian Misty May, a
<br>former partner of Holly McPeak, Armato's girlfriend, has
not signed.The first event under <br>the reorganized
AVP is June 8-10 in Hermosa Beach,Calif., where both
men and women <br>will play. In all, the 2001
schedule will include eight events (five with men and
women, <br>three with men only). Total prize money is
nearly $1 million. All events will be shown
<br>tape-delayed on Fox Sports Net.Armato had tough negotiations
with veteran AVP players <br>such as Kiraly and Mike
Whitmarsh over adopting FIVB rules smaller court, different
ball, <br>rally scoring.In the end, though, the players
had no alternative."The other option was to <br>stop
playing," says Whitmarsh, 39, who, paired with Canyon
Ceman, will be one of the <br>favorites at Hermosa. "We
made some compromises. We also came to the realization
that <br>Leonard might be the one who can resurrect
our sport."