What's Beef?

The ongoing feud between the NVL and AVP

There is never a dull moment in beach volleyball now a days, and it's all for the wrong reasons.  No, the oo's and ah's are not being shouted from the grand stands, instead people are glaring, cheering, and heckling from behind keyboards.

In this new chapter of the NVL vs. AVP saga, the NVL went on a public "smear" campaign against the AVP to display the lack of transparency, cooperation, and selfish greed that points to a 'not that surprising' unhealthy future for the sport itself.  If you've been following the NVL on Facebook you've seen that they have been posting "updates" on recent communication attempts with the AVP, specifically Donald Sun and Al Lau, to come to a solution over scheduling conflicts as well as contractual obligations that prevent players from playing in any tournament of their choosing.

This is how they prefaced their posts...

Then followed the first update, with update #2 in the comments...

Finally updates 3 and 4 respectively...

As you can see from the comments there is strong support from the fans for this attempt, albeit a flimsy and half-hearted attempt, to repair the riff and scheduling conflicts that have amassed over the past few months.

With the first of two scheduling conflicts coming this very weekend it should be obvious that this is more of a publicity stunt to draw people's attention and favor toward Hermosa Beach this weekend (where the NVL is playing) and not Salt Lake City (where the AVP is playing).  But you have to give the NVL props for using the weapons they have at their disposal:  fan loyalty, a well-respected veteran of the sport (Al-B), and of course the silver bullet:  official backing from USAV.

But as far as I can tell neither side has given any ground in this tug-of-war match for supreme control over the US market.  The AVP has lots of money but the same old model of throwing lots of money at a hat hoping that a rabbit will pop out of it.  The NVL has a healthier grassroots model that puts extra emphasis on youth development, but they are lacking major star power, sponsors, and exposure.  

The end result is ultimately this...

Meanwhile, the fans are left without a winner.  Someone *cough* *cough* USAV *COUGH* needs to clean this up and fast.