AVP picks the worst time to go on the cheap
Pro beach: Corvino and Co. reportedly could have sprung for a bigger venue in Central Park but balked at paying the city's fee
All Volleyball! has learned the word that went around the site in Central Park last weekend during the AVP League was that New York would have allowed the domestic beach-volleyball promoters to erect a larger stadium but the AVP opted not to pay the fee required by the city.
Instead, the Alden Global Capital ownership group fronted by AVP commissioner Bobby Corvino settled for a venue that probably held fewer than a thousand fans and gave off distinct Little League vibes, precisely the wrong message to send to the mainstream sports fans tuning in Sunday on CBS.
All Volleyball! reached out by email to Corvino for comment on Monday morning but as of Tuesday afternoon had received no response. (Editor’s note: If Corvino does get back to me, our story will be updated.)
If the report from a highly credible source (with no ax to grind with the AVP, I might add) is accurate, this was an abysmally poor business decision by Corvino, one that seems likely to hamper the growth of the controversial League series that so far as been an attendance boondoggle.
A long-time AVP fan who attended the Central Park tour stop wrote to me that, “It was an awesome event!”
I have no doubt that the fans enjoyed their experience, because the AVP has many world-class players and always puts on a great show. I have attended AVP events since 1988 and never failed to have a good time.
But, in the big picture of the AVP's future, this event was much less about the fans who were there and all about making the best impression possible on mainstream sports fans who were taking their first look at the product Sunday afternoon on CBS.
Every effort should have been made and no expense spared to assure the AVP put its best foot forward for the TV viewers, for this was its first big opportunity on a legacy network giant that carries great cachet to rebuild credibility as a major-league entity.
If the AVP is ever going to become a viable business entity, it has to cultivate new fans ... and lots of them. The quickest — and most likely only — route to profitability is through building a big enough TV audience so that some media platform will pay rights fees to show its beach volleyball. Presently, the AVP pays the networks to televise its product and fronts all its production costs. which represents a huge financial drain, most likely biggest liability on its ledger sheet.
Reportedly, according to word filtered down from the AVP, the city asked for “a ridiculous fee” to allow the AVP to build bleachers bigger than the junior-high football stadium-sized ones of 10 rows that sat directly of the floor of Wollman ice-skating rink.
It can’t be overstated how badly Corvino and the AVP ownership dropped the ball. The AVP is ponying up millions to put the League on national TV. And yet it balked at paying the price so a larger stadium that would look far better on TV (and sat more paid fans) could have been built. In this classic example of “penny wise and pound foolish,” the AVP settled a for Little League setup that sent unfavorable rinky-dink messages to the casual TV viewer.
No fee should have been "ridiculous" under these circumstances. This was hardly the time to go on the cheap, not when Corvino is spending a ridiculous amount of money (relative to the ratings results so far) just on linear TV placement for his product.
The Stadium Court venue with the elevated sideline and end-zone bleachers (with as many as 20 rows) such as has been used in the recent past on Oak Street Beach for the Chicago stop would have sufficed for Central Park. Courtside sand boxes could have placed between the playing surface and the grandstands. More cheering fans in a stadium that looked the part: Such optics for CBS TV viewers would have sent a far more compelling message that the AVP was worth their time to watch.
New fans are essential to the AVP’s business plan because Corvino’s ownership group hasn’t been subtle about torching its bridges with long-time fans. It’s no surprise that a great percentage of die-hards apparently has little use for the League concept. From a marketing perspective this scorched-earth strategy was hardly ideal, particularly when the die-hards are the ones the AVP would depend upon to be its paying customers.
It just makes no sense why Corvino, with so much at stake, would not give his struggling AVP League the best chance to hit a home run on CBS.
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