HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. — There are two major events remaining on the AVP calendar: This weekend’s Manhattan Beach Open, and the annual Chicago event on Labor Day weekend. The season-ending Championships have been scheduled for September 22-23, but that is all we know. Don’t know the format, where it might be held, how many teams will be competing and, everybody’s favorite topic at the moment, where they might be able to watch.
We had our semi-monthly episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter this week, which includes our lovely moderator, Savvy Simo. All anyone wanted us to chat about was the streaming. Below is a small sampling of our 100-plus inquiries from fans, the majority of which were about, you guessed it, streaming:
Is there any way we can get the AVP to figure out this streaming? On Sunday I had to have ESPN, Ballys and cable to watch the matches. Also, could we get the semis one after another instead of at the same time?
A lot of fans have complained about streaming matches this year. What do the athletes think?
Do players think streaming on ESPN+ and Bally is worth it even when it’s alienating fans?
Do you think the AVP broadcasting will ever get back to the quality of Amazon Prime? It’s BAD.
How’s the AVP organization for the players? As a fan tuning in remotely, the experience is confusing and bad.
What should the AVP do about broadcasting? Move to their own steaming app?
Is the streaming platform musical chairs bad for the sport, even if it lands on one with a bigger reach?
Is the way the AVP is aired/streamed good? What should they do?
Does the AVP need to rethink their broadcasting?
Why can’t the AVP figure out streaming?
These aren’t new complaints. The fans have been disgruntled about the streaming since the first event, in Miami in March. Larry Hamel wrote a story detailing the response from the fans, and they haven’t grown much fonder of the streaming experience — a combination of Bally Live on an app, ESPN+, and ESPN2 — since. If you read that story from Miami, the comments above are virtually the same as the questions we received earlier this week.
Atlanta, however, seemed to be a tipping point.
We’ve been doing fan question episodes regularly since March, and while the streaming is always a topic, it’s never been this overwhelming. Dana’s comment at the top, referencing needing…
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