AVP Hosts First Post-Bankruptcy Tournament

The Association of Volleyball Professionals has officially brushed off the sand and bounced back from bankruptcy, hosting its first championship tournament in more than a year.

The AVP on Saturday hosted its AVP Championships in Huntington Beach, Calif., after a 15-month drought, according to Examiner.com. The beach-volleyball organization had been quiet in recent months, leaving players and employees uncertain about the 27-year-old AVP’s plans.

As Bankruptcy Beat previously reported, AVP served up a Chapter 11 filing last October after cutting its 2010 tour season short due to a lack of funds. Once in bankruptcy, AVP quickly sought to sell itself to the highest bidder. The only buyer to dig in was its majority owner, which promised to revamp AVP’s finances.

In May, the new owners filed a plan to reinvent not only the AVP’s finances but the organization itself, declaring the AVP “the only brand in beach volleyball that matters,” even though the “the tour has simply never turned a profit.” Among the new moves are working with tournament operators and promoters to avoid the AVP shouldering the financial burden of running a tournament itself, and creating a “Mediterranean-style festival atmosphere with live beach-themed music all day.” Saturday’s tournament, for example, was to feature a DJ and VIP beer garden.