The 2025 AVP Beach Volleyball season has reached its most famed event — the Manhattan Beach Open this weekend in Los Angeles.
It caps a transformative year for the league, both in format and viewership.
The second season under CEO Robby Corvino began with major broadcast news: a multi-year agreement with CBS and the CW Network. The results have been encouraging for the AVP.
Sports Business Journal reported that over eight events aired on CW Networks averaged 169,000 viewers, while CBS Sports Network figures were not available. Corvino told the Southern California News Group broadcasts averaged “well over 200,000” viewers, including 570,000 for New York’s Central Park event on July 20.
“Our viewership is really growing week over week,” Corvino said. “We’re building off the prior week. There’s a ton of momentum and buzz, and we’re really pleased with it.”
Central Park wasn’t the only notable venue on this year’s tour. Stops included Intuit Dome in Los Angeles and Virginia Beach, part of a deliberate push to stage events in iconic settings and bring the sport to more fans.
The idea was inspired by the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where the Olympic committee staged beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower. Corvino and his team set out to find equally memorable backdrops for AVP events, hoping such locations would deepen the sport’s resonance.
“This is all about delivering the sport to our fan base in a consumable manner that sports fans are familiar with,” Corvino said. “The Olympic committee choosing the Eiffel Tower spoke volumes about where this sport is today and how it’s growing.”
After Manhattan Beach, the AVP schedule includes league championships at Chicago’s Oak Street Beach, Aug. 30-31, and the Laguna Open at Laguna Beach, Sept. 12-14.
Venues like Manhattan Beach will always hold a special place in the community, but there was an effort in 2025 to reach more indoor venues, such as Intuit Dome. Veterans like 2008 Olympic gold medalist Phil Dalhausser — competing in his last Manhattan Beach Open before retiring at 45 — prefer the briny sting of ocean air and relentless sunlight to the unforgiving metal, echoing steel, and cold austerity of cavernous arenas.
“Anytime we’re outdoors, I think it’s better than being in a place like Intuit Dome,” Dalhausser said. “But it’ll never go down as an iconic spot for beach volleyball.”
However, it’s less about symbolism and more about accessibility. For the AVP brass, there will always be a place for “heritage events,” such as the Manhattan Beach and Huntington Beach Opens — iconic venues steeped in tradition.
Arena venues offer advantages beyond capacity, with seating designed for better viewing, the classic “feel” of going to a sporting event, and one other critical element: control of conditions
“Indoor venues create a more conducive environment to control the elements,” Corvino said. “You don’t have to deal with rain or wind. It also allows traditional sports fans to come into an arena they know, grab a drink or a hot dog, and cheer their hearts out. It’s an opportunity to connect with fans who may not be familiar with the sport.”
The most widely agreed-upon change driving TV ratings in 2025 has been shifting from a tournament format to a league format. In the past, each weekend — at Manhattan Beach, for example — all AVP duos would play multiple matches a day. Corvino reimagined the AVP into a league structure, where each duo plays only one match per day, with points and records tallied at season’s end.
“Many people like the new format,” Dalhausser said. “I like it because I’m 45 and all you have to do is play one match a day. That’s great for me.”
The Manhattan Beach Open, due to its status as the “granddaddy of them all,” remains tournament-style. Qualifying play began Thursday and spectators can take in the event free this weekend, with men’s and women’s finals being held Sunday afternoon. But venues such as Intuit Dome and Central Park hosted regular-season league events. Matches are played to 15 points, win by two, in a best-of-three sets format — a lightning pace that removes the need to conserve energy and encourages greater feats of athleticism in shorter games.
The goal is to showcase the sport’s top athletes making the most dynamic plays possible without holding back for additional matches later in the day.
Corvino sees this as one of the main reasons for the sport’s viewership growth in 2025 and, as the Open closes the regular season ahead of championships at Oak Street Beach in Chicago on Labor Day weekend, aims for even more upward movement in 2026.
“This league style is a platform for showmen and women who perform best in an action-packed environment,” Corvino said. “It’s less about endurance and more about pure athleticism. We’re excited about the trajectory.”