FIVB President Ary Graça has made it clear that his biggest personal goal is to make volleyball the number one family sport entertainment in the world. It must be obvious for us to assume that the USA, volleyball’s birth place, occupies a strategic place in his plans. With that being said, Graça recently met with with athletes and officials during the Fort Lauderdale Major last week in a continuing effort to explore opportunities in this key market for the FIVB.
First, Graça met with Fort Lauderdale’s mayor, John Seiler, to confirm the city’s interest in hosting the Fort Lauderdale Major again next year. He then met with American technology companies and potential investors in an attempt to attract new business partners. Finally, he then met with USA Volleyball CEO Jamie Davis and Board of Directors Chairperson Lori Okimura to discuss developments related to a national league. This a key topic of discussion for the FIVB, as despite having by far the most developed college league in the world, not having a professional league really hurts FIVB’s ambitions for the American volleyball market.
At the end of it al, here is what Graça had to say of his visit to the USA:
“It is important for the FIVB to be continuously present in the USA market with the country being a core nation of the FIVB Nucleus Project. In Fort Lauderdale I had a great opportunity to talk with various professionals on the development of volleyball in the USA. Of course, I spoke a lot with the athletes and USA Volleyball. It was also great to talk with Hannes Jagerhofer, CEO of the Beach Majors Company. We discussed upcoming events as well as the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Hamburg, Germany.”
FIVB’s president will continues to talk with USA volleyball authorities when he attends their board of directors meeting in May.
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