Leonard

I never posted my thoughts on Leonard leaving, being forced out or whatever you want to call it so I figured I would now that we have a weekend off from the tour. In my mind it is a touchy subject. Many players were ecstatic that he was out and were vocal in their support of the new management forcing him out. Others were more reserved. I tend to be in the more reserved camp.

I feel a great debt of gratitude to Leonard for resurrecting the tour from the junk pile back in 2001. When I look at the players currently playing, I realize that none of them were playing when the AVP was going through the upheavals of the late 90's and only a few of them were playing when Leonard took over the tour. They don't have the perspective I have. I went full time on the AVP tour in 1997 with a 4.5 million dollar tour ahead of me and the top 20 guys making close to $100,000 in prize money a year. And that doesn't include the sponsorship money that tons of sponsors were paying out. I didn't get paid 25% of my prize money that year due to all the fiscal problems. The next year I played for a tour with 1 million in prize money, 20 stops all at $50,000 prize money. Quite the difference from $100,000 minimum prize money, 25 stops and some tourneys up to $300,000 prize money. So 1997 through 2001 were kind of difficult years. You had to scrape by by playing on the AVP, hoping to have some decent sponsorship money, maybe playing on the FIVB to supplement income and any other tour that happened to be around.

Leonard gave the AVP stability. The first 2 years (2002 & 2003) there wasn't a lot of tourneys or prize money to be had. The top players were playing mostly on the FIVB to be able to make a living. These were actually my leanest years on tour. We had no support from USAV to play internationally and the FIVB tour was expensive to play on. Lots of air travel, hotels and food to pay for. Sponsors were far and few between. The AVP was growing but with 7 tourneys and 9 tourneys respectively it still wasn't very lucrative to play only on the AVP.

In 2004 things began to look up. 12 tourneys was a good number to have and with prize money increasing things were looking much better. You have to lay this at Leonard's feet and say thank you. He and his crew worked tirelessly to build the property. Getting it on TV and getting sponsors to come on board to name a few things. Also in 2004 the first of the bad things started to happen. It was only one thing in my mind and most players didn't think it was bad at the time although I was one of the few that openly argued against it. That was the contract extension through 2008. It was a one sided contract in the AVP's favor and the AVP could do this as they had all the leverage and had shown over the past 2+ years that they were doing a good job. The players fell in line and I see this as the beginning of a long and winding downhill path.

In 2005 there was a significant increase in prize money and the number of tourneys went up to 14. This was a good year. Players were not that interested in playing in too many FIVB events other than to try and keep points up and get Bonus Pool money. There were problems with the FIVB at that point as well. The AVP looked sound and it was a hot property.

In 2006 the prize money again went up and the tourneys went up to 16. This meant it was harder to play on the FIVB and guys were trying to jockey for position with the Olympics only 2+ years away and qualifying starting in less than a year. Problems started to occur between players and management. Most of it was kept under wraps but the grumblings were growing louder. My personal opinion on the matter is that Leonard should have voluntarily stepped down in either 2005 or 2006. The AVP was still growing and things looked pretty good. He would have been hailed as a savior by the players and most everyone involved. His reputation with the players would have been for the most part great. This of course didn't happen and the next 2 years became volatile to say the least. I won't go into them as most everyone has seen what has happened over the past 2 years or so.

My take, I think it is a good thing Leonard is out of the AVP. That may not sit well with Leonard or Holly or those close to Leonard, but I feel it is for the best. I think most of the players would agree with me. With that in mind I fully support the new management as it is new management and we have a fresh start. Time of course will tell and by the end of this year I hope to have a vibrant outlook on the AVP tour and management. We shall see though. Let us not forget the debt of gratitude that is owed Leonard. Look at the body of work rather than what have you done for me lately. Personally I wish to thank Leonard for the good he has done. It wasn't all roses between us but I am okay with that.