AVP Crocs Tour Mason, Ohio

2008 AVP Crocs Tour Mason, Ohio - Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cincinnati To Host First AVP Tour Stop Following Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Tri-state fans welcome back Pro Beach Volleyball athletes and Olympians

CINCINNATI, OH (January 24, 2008) – Reach Event Marketing, local promoters of the AVP Crocs Tour Cincinnati Open and AVP, Inc., announce that Cincinnati will be the first AVP Crocs Tour stop following the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The 2008 AVP Crocs Tour Cincinnati Open is officially scheduled for August 29-31 over Labor Day weekend at Lindner Family Tennis Center and will be held right after the completion of the XXIX Olympiad.

Tickets are on sale beginning today and can be purchased through avp.com/cincinnati, Tickets.com, and at all Meijer store locations in Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington, Dayton and Columbus. Prices range from $10-$75 with special discounts and various packages available. To help kick-off the event announcement and ticket sales, a special media event will be held on Friday, Jan. 25 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Slatts Pub at 4858 Cooper Road in Blue Ash, Ohio. AVP Tour players Rachel Wacholder and Kevin Wong will be in attendance to promote this exciting event.

Wacholder, one of the top female players on the AVP Tour, is still competing in qualifying play to try to secure a berth in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Wong is a 2000 Olympian, and the last playing partner of the recently retired and legendary Karch Kiraly.

The fourth annual pro beach volleyball event at the Lindner Family Tennis Center is the area’s biggest beach party of the year. The Greater Cincinnati region has proven to be such a great destination for professional beach volleyball that Tour officials last year announced a five-year extension through 2011. This year’s event is even more special as it will provide fans a great opportunity to witness Olympic athletes in action and hopefully help them in celebrating Olympic Medal victories including the prestigious Gold.

“The excitement of hosting these athletes and Olympic hopefuls the past three years has been overwhelming,” said Bob Slattery, president of Reach Event Marketing. “We look forward to cheering them on, representing the United States in the 2008 Summer Games then congratulating them as they return to play in this year’s Cincinnati Open, the first stop after Beijing.”

The United States has had a major impact globally in pro beach volleyball since it became an official Olympic sport in 1996. In men’s competition, Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes won the Gold Medal in Atlanta in 1996 with Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh taking home Silver. At the 2000 Sydney Games, Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana won the Gold Medal. The U.S. women took the sand by storm at the 2004 Athens Games with Misty-May Treanor and Kerri Walsh winning the Gold Medal and Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs winning Bronze.

May-Treanor and Walsh will return to Cincinnati to defend their Cincinnati Open title while last season’s top-rated AVP team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers will defend their title on the men’s side. Over 150 of the top players in the world will be competing in Cincinnati.

Benefiting The Charles M. Barrett Cancer Center at University Hospital & UC Cancer Center

For the fourth straight year AVP Crocs Tour Cincinnati Open officials welcome The Charles M. Barrett Cancer Center at University Hospital & UC Cancer Center as event beneficiary. The Barrett Cancer Center has a long-standing reputation for providing the most advanced and complete range of cancer services available in the region. The Barrett Cancer Center is a unique facility offering screening, diagnosis and treatment for all types of cancer at one central, convenient location.

Event Schedule and Format:

Friday, Aug. 29 (Session 1, Main Draw) - 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 29 (Session 2, Main Draw) - 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 30 (Session 3, Main Draw) - 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 30 (Session 4, Main Draw) - 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 31 (Session 5, Main Draw) - 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Men's Finals at 2:30 p.m., Women's Finals at 4 p.m.)

Sponsorship Packages

Several different sponsorship packages are currently available for the 2008 AVP Crocs Tour Cincinnati Open. Local event sponsors so far include Kroger, Wellington Sports & Orthopaedics, LaRosa’s, General Electric, A Bee Limousine, Tickets.com and WLWT. National sponsors include Crocs, Nautica, Bud Light, Cuervo, Herbalife, Hilton, XBOX 360, Liftoff, McDonald’s, Gatorade, Paul Mitchell, Nature Valley, Wilson and Banana Boat.

Online Information

Visit www.avp.com/Cincinnati throughout the year for event information including tickets, sponsorships, hospitality, schedules and general announcements.

About the AVP

AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, Inc. is a leading lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on the production, marketing and distribution of professional beach volleyball events worldwide. AVP operates the industry's most prominent national touring series, the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, which was organized in 1983. Featuring more than 150 of the top American men and women competitors in the sport, AVP, including the Hot Winter Nights Tour, is set to stage 37 events throughout the United States in 2008. In 2004, AVP athletes successfully represented the United States during the Olympics in Athens, Greece, winning gold and bronze medals, the first medals won by U.S. women in professional beach volleyball. For more information, please visit www.avp.com.

About Reach Event Marketing

Reach Event Marketing (REM) is a full-service event marketing company that specializes in organizing, marketing and promoting regional and national events including the AVP Crocs Tour Cincinnati Open, AVP Louisville Open, and i-wireless High School Tour. REM offers strategic marketing expertise at the grassroots level in many areas including the selling of advertising, sponsorship and hospitality packages, ticket sales management, and promotion. In addition to event marketing the company also publishes Hacks High School Sports Magazine. For more information, please visit www.reacheventmarketing.com.

Contacts:

Sponsorships Ticketing Public Relations/Media

Reach Event Marketing Reach Event Marketing Reach Event Marketing

Mario Cicchinelli Kyle Ramsey Ed Letsinger

(513) 794-4174 (513) 794-4164 (513) 794-4177

mario@reachusa.com kramsey@reachusa.com eletsinger@reachusa.com

Hospitality

Reach Event Marketing

Natalie Neal

(513) 699-3434

nneal@reachusa.com

AVP Marketing AVP Public Relations/Media