The sand courts just south of the Manhattan Beach Pier will host the country's longest-running and most prestigious professional beach volleyball event this weekend, with a main draw running Friday through Sunday and free general admission for anyone who wants to watch. Play begins at 8 a.m. each day, and organizers are recommending that attendees arrive early and bring sunscreen given the first-come, first-served seating.
The 2026 AVP Manhattan Beach Open, first established in 1960, features Olympians, AVP stars and top beach volleyball players competing for space on one of the sport's most storied stages, according to CBS News Los Angeles. Before the main draw even opens, the tournament held an opening qualifier Thursday, part of a broader qualification gauntlet that AVP Beach Volleyball reports saw 160 teams battle for just 16 spots in the 64-team main draw, which is split evenly between 32 men's and 32 women's teams.
A Rivalry Turned Partnership Headlines the Men's Field
The men's bracket carries its own drama this year. Former NBA player Chase Budinger and Trevor Crabb enter as the top seed, teaming up two years after Budinger shoved Crabb on center court during a side switch at the 2024 AVP Chicago Open, an incident that resulted in double red cards and went viral across sports media, per AVP's tournament preview. Defending men's champions Chase Budinger and Miles Evans will look to defend their title as the bracket also features seven-time Manhattan Beach Open champion Phil Dalhausser, who enters as the No. 8 seed alongside Taylor Sander after previously winning back-to-back AVP Cup titles with Crabb before the pair split ahead of this season.
Crabb, meanwhile, is chasing his own piece of history: a fifth career Manhattan Beach Open title, per the AVP preview. On the women's side, defending champions Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss Cruz are aiming for a third consecutive title after winning back-to-back tournaments in 2024 and 2025, entering this year's field as the top-ranked women's team, the same AVP report notes.
Pier Plaques and a Free Thursday Ceremony
What separates this tournament from a standard tour stop is its reward. Champions earn a plaque embedded directly into the Manhattan Beach Pier, and last year's winners were honored Thursday at a free, public Walk of Fame ceremony that unveiled their plaques, according to CBS News Los Angeles. The pier itself, built in 1920 and standing 928 feet long, is the oldest remaining concrete pier on the West Coast and holds status as a California Historical Landmark, according to AAA, which notes the deck has permanently housed the bronze volleyball-shaped plaques since winners first began earning them in the early 1960s, per Wikipedia.
That record book is dominated by a handful of names. Karch Kiraly holds the all-time men's record with 10 total Manhattan Beach Open titles and pier plaques, while Kathy Gregory holds the women's record with seven tournament wins, per the same Wikipedia entry. Against that backdrop, the $300,000 total prize purse for 2026, split evenly at $150,000 per gender, makes this the highest-paying Heritage event on the AVP tour, according to the City of Manhattan Beach.
Street Closures and How to Watch From Home
Fans planning to attend in person should expect disruption beyond the beach itself. The city instituted street and lot closures from August 9 through August 19, including full closures of the lower pier parking lots and Manhattan Beach Boulevard west of Ocean Drive, to accommodate stadium court construction on the sand and general tournament traffic, according to the city's event schedule.
Those who can't make it to the South Bay can still watch. Match coverage includes live streaming on AVP's YouTube channel, with weekend finals slated for national broadcast on CBS Sports Network and The CW, according to a report from Skyball Apparel. The tournament also doubles as a key seeding event, with players jockeying for playoff position ahead of September's AVP League Championships in Chicago.
Manhattan Beach has long carried the nickname the Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball because of this tournament's history, but that reputation hasn't translated into hosting rights for the 2028 Games. LA28 Olympic organizers instead selected Long Beach's Alamitos Beach for Olympic beach volleyball, a decision Hoodline previously reported was driven by space and infrastructure constraints in Manhattan Beach, with Long Beach's freeway and transit access seen as better suited to Olympic-scale crowds.
