And he wants it to mean something.
So the Olympic hopeful is more than a little concerned about the hands into which the future of the city’s prized Manhattan Beach Open Volleyball Tournament (MBO) gets placed.
Fuerbringer pleaded Tuesday with the City Council to halt plans that would grant a partnership with USA Volleyball (USAV) and events management behemoth International Management Group (IMG) to co-sponsor the prestigious tournament next year.
“We’re just asking for a little more time to make sure that whatever event comes, it takes care of the players in the way we need it to,” said Fuerbringer, who is also a board member of the recently-formed Pro Beach Volleyball Association.
On Dec. 8, USAV and IMG formally proposed to co-sponsor the event, with hopes of adding MBO to the USAV Beach Championship Series — a pro volleyball series born out of last summer’s collapse of the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) and its 12-stop national tour, which included the MBO.
The AVP’s announcement in August that it was closing it doors came a week before the 50th MBO was scheduled to take place, leaving the city scrambling to pull off a last-minute save of the event and find sponsors willing to spend enough cash to draw the best players on the beach.
USAV managing director of Beach Programs Dave Williams — former vice president of Operations for the AVP — said he has been discussing plans for next year’s tournament since the day the AVP backed out of it.
Last month, USAV announced a multi-year agreement with IMG Action Sports to hold the Olympic-qualifying Beach Championship Series, to which tournaments in Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, Chicago and Belmar, New Jersey have already been added.
The partners want to make the MBO the championship tournament of the series next September.
“It can be the championship of the series, but it’s the Manhattan Beach Open first,” said IMG senior vice president James Leitz.
The City Council, however, did not award the co-sponsorship to USAV and IMG on Tuesday, instead opting to hold off on the decision for a month to consider other companies interested in operating and marketing the event.
“Let’s put the past behind us, get everybody together and figure out what’s best for coming years,” said Mayor Pro Tem Nick Tell.
Representatives of ION Sports Network, which provided web-based video coverage of this year’s MBO, and event logistics company The Elevation Group have both also expressed interest in co-sponsoring the event.
“We helped rescue the event and invested in broadcasting the event knowing it would enable the world to see the fiftieth anniversary of the Manhattan Beach Open,” said Dave Behar, owner of ION. “We’ve already invested in the Manhattan Beach Open brand and would like to continue. More companies should be considered.”
“An event of this stature should get a little more consideration,” said Steve Lindecke of Elevation, which is based in Cleveland, Ohio. “What’s best for the fabric and lifestyle of the community?”
Williams reminded the council that he began operating the MBO in 2001, working with the late Charlie Saikley — aka the Godfather of Beach Volleyball — to push the tournament forward. Leitz started running volleyball events in 1987.
“Between the two of us, we operated more beach volleyball events than anyone else in the world,” Leitz said.
“Dave and I put our stake in the ground in May,” he added. “We’re here. We’ve been here. Time’s a-wasting. The brand needs to be built. We want to help bring back the prestige of this tournament.”
Pro volleyball player and PBVA founder Hans Stolfis expressed concern that the MBO lost some of its prestige when it reverted to the old-school format last summer. He fears that it may lose more if the city makes the wrong choice for who handles the tournament going forward.
“This is our grandaddy event,” Fuerbringer said. “We want this month to make sure next year’s event is not all over the map.” ER
