How Does the AVP Work? Tour Structure Explained

The AVP — the Association of Volleyball Professionals, founded in 1983 — is the longest-running professional beach volleyball tour in the United States. In 2026 it runs on three tracks: the AVP League (eight city-based teams competing over eight weeks), the Heritage Series majors (Manhattan Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach), and a slate of Contender events with purses from $20,000 to $60,000.

Three tracks, one tour

The AVP operates three distinct competition tracks, and understanding them is the key to following the tour. The AVP League is the newest format: eight city-based teams (like New York Nitro and Palm Beach) playing a regular season across eight weekly stops, then a championship in Chicago. The Heritage Series events are the traditional majors — Manhattan Beach, Huntington Beach, and Laguna Beach — open tournaments with the biggest purses and the most history. Contender events are the week-to-week tour stops with smaller purses, where up-and-coming teams earn points and prize money.

All three tracks award AVP ranking points, and results feed the same national ranking system. A player's best three finishes from the last 365 days determine their ranking, which controls entry and seeding across the tour.

The AVP League: city teams and 15-point sets

The League is the AVP's attempt to package beach volleyball the way American fans already understand sports: with teams, cities, and a season. Eight teams of top men's and women's pairs each play four of the eight regular-season stops — 2026 visited Belmar, Aspen, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York City, East Hampton, and Dallas — before converging on Chicago for the championship.

The League also tweaks the rules for TV: sets are played to 15 points instead of the standard 21, which compresses matches and rewards fast starts. League stops are ticketed, stadium-style productions — the AVP has built courts everywhere from the Las Vegas Strip to New York's Central Park to the future LA 2028 Olympic beach volleyball site in Long Beach.

The Heritage Series: the majors

The Heritage Series is where the sport's history lives. The Manhattan Beach Open is the crown jewel — the 2026 edition carried a $300,000 purse, and winning it earns a plaque embedded in the Manhattan Beach Pier, a tradition no other event can match. The Huntington Beach Open ($150,000) opened the 2026 season, and the Laguna Open returned as a Heritage Major in 2026, its first top-tier AVP event since 1988.

Unlike the League, Heritage events are open tournaments: any pair with enough ranking points — or who survives the qualifier — can enter. They use standard international scoring (sets to 21) and traditional double-elimination or pool-play formats.

Contender events: where seasons are built

Contender events are the working backbone of the tour. In 2026, most carried $20,000 purses (Austin, Pompano Beach, Virginia Beach, Aspen, Edwardsville, Santa Barbara), with two bigger $60,000 stops in Denver and Waupaca. Formats vary: some run 32-team double elimination, others use 24-team pool play feeding into a single-elimination bracket.

These events matter beyond their purses. Strong Contender results earn the ranking points needed to enter Heritage majors, and the AVP has used select Contenders as direct qualifiers — in 2026, winning the Denver Open came with an automatic berth into the Manhattan Beach Open main draw.

How players get in: points and qualifiers

Entry into AVP main draws is determined by the combined ranking points of the two partners. Per the AVP Player Handbook, each athlete's ranking comes from their best three results (domestic or international) within the last 365 days, with a maximum of two international results counting. Only finishes at events with 16 or more main-draw teams count toward seeding and entry.

Teams below the cut line aren't shut out — they enter a qualifier, typically a single-day tournament before the main draw, where the top finishers earn the last main-draw spots. It's the same meritocratic path that has launched countless pro careers: win the qualifier on Thursday, play the best in the world on Friday.