MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — Robert Corvino doesn’t hesitate when asked to explain the significance of the Manhattan Beach Open to someone who might not be familiar with professional beach volleyball.
“We look at the Manhattan Beach Open as kind of our Wimbledon,” the AVP League commissioner and COO said.
It’s an appropriate comparison for an event that has become synonymous with the sport and its history. The 42nd edition of the Progressive AVP Manhattan Beach Open will take place Aug. 14-16 at the Manhattan Beach Pier, bringing the world’s top beach volleyball players to Southern California for the most prestigious event on the AVP calendar.
The tournament will feature the biggest draw of the AVP season with a dual-gender, 32-team main draw and a double-elimination format. Every AVP League athlete will be part of a field filled with Olympic medalists, Olympians and some of the world’s top-ranked teams.
But what separates Manhattan Beach from just about every other stop in professional sports is that winning there literally becomes part of the landscape. Champions are immortalized with bronze volleyball plaques on the Volleyball Walk of Fame at the Manhattan Beach Pier.
“Everything about the Manhattan Beach Open is something that we cherish and really want to continue to build,” Corvino said. “Just walking out on that pier and seeing the previous winners and the plates that are embedded into the pier and what that means for the sport and the heritage and the tradition — it’s everything to us.”
Before competition begins this year, 2025 champions Chase Budinger, Miles Evans, Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss will be honored during the annual Walk of Fame Ceremony, where they will unveil their plaques on the pier.
While the Manhattan Beach Open represents the AVP’s history, this year’s event also arrives at a time when the league believes it is building significant momentum toward its future.
The AVP is announcing a major expansion of its sponsorship portfolio, headlined by Progressive Insurance becoming the title partner of both the AVP League and the Manhattan Beach Open as well as the league’s official insurance partner. Corona, Delta Air Lines, Gatorade, Skechers, ZICO, Chevron and Yaamava’ Resort & Casino are also joining as sponsors.
For Corvino, landing those companies is more than simply adding recognizable logos around the court. He sees their investment as validation of the direction the AVP has taken since launching its league format and attempting to package beach volleyball in a way that reaches beyond its traditional fan base.
“Those are blue-chip premier organizations that have not been a part of this sport in quite some time,” Corvino said. “The Progressive title sponsorship, it’s the first title we’ve had in many, many years. And I think it really speaks to what we’ve created here and how we are really leaning into the lifestyle.”
Corvino said the AVP has worked to evolve from what had largely been a tournament-based product into something that casual sports fans can more easily follow and consume across television and digital platforms. He pointed to the league’s social media growth and broadcast partnerships with The CW and CBS as evidence that the strategy is gaining traction.
“This has been a transformational year for the AVP League as we’ve continued to grow our broadcast audience to record levels, expand our national footprint and elevate the sport of beach volleyball on a global stage,” Corvino said in the sponsorship announcement. “Welcoming this group of blue-chip partners is a reflection of the momentum we’re building, and the value brands see in connecting with the athletes, fans and events of the AVP.”
That growth is particularly important with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics looming on the horizon. Beach volleyball was one of the signature spectacles of the 2024 Paris Olympics, with a temporary stadium constructed beneath the Eiffel Tower. Corvino believes the AVP can create similarly memorable settings for its events rather than limiting the sport to traditional beach locations.
The league has already tested that concept by bringing hundreds of tons of sand into New York’s Central Park and constructing courts in locations ranging from the Las Vegas Strip to Aspen and the Hamptons. The AVP also held an event this year in Long Beach at the site that will host beach volleyball during the 2028 Olympics.
“We recognized that there’s no reason we can’t be doing that here at the AVP,” Corvino said. “Under the right format and the right structure, we can bring this incredible sport to iconic locations across the country.”
Corvino said there are already discussions underway about additional locations that fit that description, although he declined to reveal them. The AVP has demonstrated that its league format can be staged in unconventional venues, including Intuit Dome in Inglewood and Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
“There are a few that I’m working on right now that certainly fall under the iconic,” Corvino said. “We’ve proven that with the expertise of our operations team, there’s no limits to what we can really do with this.”
The growth strategy, however, isn’t only about television audiences, sponsors or unique venues. Corvino said one of his priorities since joining the AVP three years ago has been creating a stronger pipeline from youth participation all the way to the professional ranks.
That effort will be visible in Manhattan Beach this year with an All-American recognition program for junior players. Winners from seven regional junior tournaments across different age groups have been invited to Manhattan Beach for a ceremony Corvino compared to the recognition surrounding the McDonald’s All-American Games.
The idea is to give young players a tangible connection to the athletes competing at the highest level of the sport.
“We want to connect all of those and make it really a pathway for kids, both boys and girls at the junior level, to see a path to really how can we see ourselves as professional beach athletes one day, competing on the biggest stages,” Corvino said.
That pathway leads directly to a tournament such as the Manhattan Beach Open, which is unique in allowing amateur teams the opportunity to qualify into the main event and compete alongside established professionals. It creates the possibility of an unknown team playing its way into one of the most historic championships in beach volleyball.
Corvino believes the next step for the AVP is getting fans to know those athletes and become invested in their stories. With partnerships and teams changing between Olympic cycles, he sees an opportunity to build personalities and rivalries that give fans a reason to follow beach volleyball throughout the four years between the Games rather than discovering it every Olympics.
“We want to continue to tell the stories of these athletes,” Corvino said. “I think that is what is going to continue to drive fandom around the sport and the teams and the city-based teams and the duos. There’s so much of a story that can be told here.”
And while attending many major sporting events has become increasingly expensive, the Manhattan Beach Open retains one of the qualities that has helped make beach volleyball part of Southern California culture: much of it remains accessible to anyone who wants to walk onto the sand and watch.
“The good news is the majority of our tickets this weekend are free,” Corvino said.
Premium options provide a more intimate experience, but Corvino said maintaining a substantial free component is important to the AVP, particularly at Manhattan Beach, where packed stands and long lines have traditionally been part of the tournament’s atmosphere.
“It’s really important to us, particularly at the Manhattan Beach Open, that there is a huge component of this that is free for fans,” Corvino said. “They can experience it and really hopefully build their love of the game and the sport and these athletes. That’s what it’s all about.”
For a league focused on expanding into new markets, attracting major corporate partners and positioning itself to capitalize on the Los Angeles Olympics two years from now, the Manhattan Beach Open remains its connection to where the sport has been.
The AVP may be bringing sand to iconic venues around the country, but for one weekend every summer, the center of the beach volleyball world remains exactly where it has been for decades: alongside the pier in Manhattan Beach.