Published July 27, 2015
The AVP has added two sponsors in new categories as it continues to position itself for the limelight provided by next year’s Summer Olympics.
Jaybird has agreed to a two-year deal to become the official headphone partner of the pro beach volleyball tour, following a one-year collaboration that the AVP announced July 17 with Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten Inc., that company’s first effort in American sports sponsorship.
The league also has renewed terms with hair care partner John Paul Mitchell Systems. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Expanding sponsor revenue has been a priority for managing partner Donald Sun since he acquired the tour out of bankruptcy in 2012, when volleyball maker Wilson was its only sponsor. Sun, a California businessman and son of the billionaire founder of the tech company Kingston Technology, has expanded the tour to eight stops since its resurrection, and this year struck a one-year deal with NBC Sports to return the sport to the network.
Sun expects beach volleyball to again be among the most watched sports at next year’s Rio Games and is counting on the tour getting a big boost afterward. The tour has exclusive contracts with Olympians such as Kerri Walsh Jennings and Jake Gibb.
Until then, Sun has been trying to convince would-be sponsors and fans that the AVP can return to its pre-recessionary peak, when it held more than 30 events and generated annual revenue of nearly $25 million. It folded in 2010.
“If we do it right, people will see it and take a chance on it,” he said in an interview during this month’s New York City event.
Sponsors are still generally interested in one-year deals, Sun said. But the Jaybird sponsorship secures it through the Rio Games, and the Rakuten partnership is a new entry into international markets. Jaybird’s deal includes national TV advertising and on-site activations at tour stops through 2016.