Volleyball League Vows to Sue State’s Coastal Commission

The Assn. of Volleyball Professionals appears just as adept at keeping the ball in play in the courtroom as it is on the beach.

Earlier this month, the association, reacting to a lawsuit, decided to move the Manhattan Beach Open one pier south to Hermosa Beach and change the venerable tournament’s name after 37 years at the same sandy spot.

Now, fearful that they will lose $150,000 if they can’t charge for seating at the upcoming Hermosa Beach Open in July, association officials said Thursday that they will file a lawsuit today in Superior Court challenging a May decision by the California Coastal Commission banning paid seating at any event held on a public beach between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

“We find ourselves in a position we are not happy about,” said Jerry Solomon, the group’s chief executive. “We have been unfairly dealt with by the California Coastal Commission that has issued a ruling that it did not in effect have the authority to issue.”

The group plans to seek a temporary restraining order next week that would allow it to sell tickets to the event, officials said.

The actions are the latest in a back-and-forth legal tussle that has been brewing all spring and summer over beach volleyball and who profits from it.

In 1960, the tournament began in Manhattan Beach as a casual affair with free admission. By 1993, 25% of the about 5,000 seats at the Manhattan Beach Open went on sale as part of the association’s tour, which had expanded to 24 cities and $4 million in prize money.

But after a local group filed a lawsuit this year, challenging the environmental effects of the noise and pollution generated by the tournament, the association moved the June 13-15 Manhattan Beach Open to Hermosa Beach and called it the Miller Lite/AVP Hermosa Beach Grand Slam. It was free to the public.

The association, which lost $150,000 in ticket sales, still doesn’t know if it will hold a Manhattan Beach volleyball tournament in the near future.

Now, the Hermosa Beach Open, to be held July 25-27, looms. Last year, 100% of the seats at the Hermosa Beach Open were sold--the first Los Angeles-area beach volleyball tournament to charge general admission for all seats. And a large tarp went up around the playing field, angering some residents.

So the Coastal Commission decided to end paid seating, despite a staff recommendation to approve paid seating. The Coastal Commission voted 10 to 1 to reject the idea.

Recently, the association discovered how serious the commission is about its decision. When the organization went to get its Coastal Commission permit for the Hermosa Beach tournament, it was told that there would be no event unless the association agreed not to charge for seats.

“It is our position that the Coastal Commission has overstepped its grounds,” Solomon said.

The Coastal Commission, however, maintains that it is on strong legal footing. Executive Director Peter Douglas said the commission spent hours weighing its decision and concluded that there are more such events happening on public beaches and that they have to be curtailed.

Said Douglas: “Clearly, fencing off a large area of a sandy beach to all members of the public except to those who can afford the price of entry is . . . what the Coastal Act was established to address.”