Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.
A little more than a year away from the Rio Olympics, NBC Sports Group has signed a deal to carry one of the more popular sports of the Summer Games.
The network signed a one-year deal to carry AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour events this summer during the run-up to the Olympics next August. There is no rights fee associated with the deal; the AVP will handle all ad and sponsorship sales.
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Seven 2015 AVP stops will appear on NBC and NBCSN.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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“We have a vested interest in this sport because of our Olympic commitment,” said Jon Miller, president of programming for NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network. “The growth in its Olympic popularity gives us an added reason to do this deal.”
Starting with an event in New Orleans on Memorial Day weekend, NBC and NBC Sports Network will carry seven stops through September. NBC will stream the events to authenticated viewers via NBC Sports Live Extra. NBC’s regional sports networks and Universal Sports will re-run the programming in the days after it first airs.
NBC has committed to carry 10 hours of coverage on the broadcast network and 7.5 hours on its cable sports channel. In addition to the seven regular-season tour stops, NBC will carry an international tour event from St. Petersburg, Fla., in June that AVP will run.
NBC coordinating producer John McGuinness will produce the events.
NBC has a long history with the AVP. It carried the tour’s events when the association launched 25 years ago in 1990 until 2010, when the tour folded and filed for bankruptcy.
AVP owner Donald Sun acquired the tour’s rights and relaunched it in 2013 with a five-stop tour.
“I am impressed with the vision and passion of the new group that’s running it,” said NBC’s Miller.
For the past two years, CBS Sports Network carried the events as part of a revenue-sharing deal. AVP officials said they were frustrated by the fact that CBS Sports Network is not Nielsen rated. AVP executives also are happy that the NBC deal will put events on the broadcast channel.
“When the CBS deal ran out, Jon Miller was the first person we called,” Sun said. “We’re coming from a nonrated network to a rated one. If we can hit a ratings number that NBC wants to hit, then we will continue.”
