Pro beach volleyball to make July 13-16 stop at Hoover Met - Hoover/Birmingham

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Professional beach volleyball tour set to make July stop at Hoover Met Wednesday, January 25, 2006

http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1138185498281610.xml&coll=2

Every summer, hundreds of people from the Hoover area go to the beach.
This summer, the beach comes to Hoover.

The Association of Volleyball Professionals will announce today that it's bringing its Pro Beach Volleyball Tour to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium this summer. The July 13-16 event will be the start of a three-year deal for the tour to play in Hoover.

Olympic gold medalist Misty May will be at The Met today for the announcement.

"This is their first stop in what we consider the Deep South," said Gene Hallman, whose Bruno Event Team is promoting the tour stop. "There will be two-man and two-woman teams, 32 of each, on eight courts at the Hoover Met."

The event will be televised nationally on Fox Sports.

The Hoover competition will be part of a 16-city tour that includes Brooklyn, N.Y., Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, Boulder, Co., and numerous stops on the California coast.

Hallman cited the efforts of the City of Hoover in bringing pro beach volleyball to this area.

Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos said he is happy the city will play host to another sporting event, a trend that has become a theme of his administration. Petelos has pushed tourism, specifically sporting events, as a way to raise sales tax revenue through extra business at hotels, restaurants and retailers.
"Hoover's had a long history of bringing quality events, and this is just one more on the list," Petelos said.

Hallman said research indicated that beach volleyball could be a good fit in this area.

"There are more volleyball players per capita than in most spots in this country," he said. "And when you look at the ratings when Pro Beach Volleyball is on TV, Birmingham's ratings were above the national average.
"During the (Athens) Olympics, beach volleyball was the most-watched event,"

Hallman added, citing APV information.

The City of Hoover will ship in tons of a special sand and set up seven courts in the parking lot of The Met. An eighth court, the center court, will go in the stadium. Semifinals and finals will take place on center court.

"The Barons have been very cooperative," Hallman said of the Double-A minor league baseball franchise that plays at The Met. "This happens to be an off week for them, but they've been very gracious in turning over their facility in the middle of a baseball season to make this work."

Hallman believes the effort will prove worthwhile.

"This is about tourism, this is about economic development, this is about exposure for the Hoover/Birmingham area on national TV," he said. "I do believe volleyball enthusiasts from throughout the Southeast will travel into Birmingham to watch this."