Red Bull and European event promoter Hannes Jagerhofer are betting big on beach volleyball in Florida this week. The Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals begins today in Ft. Lauderdale, a big-money tournament that promises the sport’s largest prizes and a player pool billed as more elite than the Olympics. The six-day, 20-team tournament carries a first-place prize of $100,000 for both the men’s and women’s draw (a $500,000 purse in total). Unlike the Olympics, in which teams qualify by country, this tournament matches the top eight teams in each gender’s world rankings plus two wild cards. The tournament is part of the inaugural Swatch Beach Majors Series, a new series launched in February to augment the FIVB’s Grand Slam tour. Jagerhofer, founder of the ACTS Group, is CEO of the Beach Majors Co., a joint venture created with Red Bull to operate the tournaments. Organizers have a 10-year business plan, he said. “The risk is on our side, completely,” Jagerhofer said. “We know we are losing money in the first years, but like in every business, we hope to make the turnaround as soon as possible." Swatch signed a three-year deal as title sponsor. General admission to the beach courts is free, but organizers hope to sell 400 luxury VIP tickets for $2,200, Jagerhofer said, which he added offers food and service akin to a five-star restaurant. Twenty-five chefs will work the VIP tables, he said. Organizers hope to attract 30,000 attendees in total between now and the Sunday finals, which will air on NBC. The Swatch series has finished its three tour stops in Europe, and Jagerhofer says they have met attendance projections at each stop. Like the reconstituted AVP Tour in the U.S., Jagerhofer is hoping for a big boost by the '16 Rio Games to spur additional sponsorship deals. “We are in really close negotiations for three other big brands for next year, and then after the Olympics there will be a big boost with beach." With the benefit of a long-term play, Jagerhofer says he will define success in Ft. Lauderdale with something of an eye test: Energetic audiences, a full VIP section, good matches and “Hopefully for the U.S. market, there are U.S. players in the finals,” he said.
