Critical situation in Beach Volleyball

This past weekend, during its session held in Cannes, the CEV Executive Committee was forced to ascertain with real regret the extremely critical circumstances currently affecting the 2010 Beach Volleyball season, with partner and promoter GSM – Global Sports Marketing (whose emerald brand has been associated to many success stories in the past few years) being no longer able to fulfill its contractual obligations towards athletes, National Federations and CEV.
“In spite of the many actions we have been undertaking vying for a reconcilement of our positions, we are unfortunately obliged to state that GSM has been steadily failing to fulfill the conditions we had once agreed upon. After having taken notice that GSM did not comply with several conditions listed in our agreement, the European Volleyball Confederation is hence ready to make a clear statement for the benefits of all parties concerned” says CEV President André Meyer.
The CEV Executive Committee listed indeed a series of facts that have been hampering the interaction with GSM over the last months and namely:
- even though CEV has been insisting, since July 2009 and more intensively since last October, on the absolute necessity to pay the prize money still due to the athletes for the 2009 season, this recommendation was not followed up by GSM, thus causing some real damages to the reputation and the overall image of the European Championship Tour towards the players and their respective National Federations;
- since September 2009 CEV has been repeatedly asking for a detailed proposal to be worked out for the 2010 season; as the CEV Board of Administration resumed this past January 30 to The Hague (NED), only a very provisional draft was penciled in and provided by GSM, including 3 tournaments plus a Masters Final to be played in Sochi (Russia); moreover, for all these tournaments – with the only exception being Russia - GSM did not yet finalize any agreement with the local organizers and the National Federations concerned, with venues and dates still far to be confirmed also for the eventual alternatives (Turkey and Switzerland); as a result of these delays and troubles, at this date CEV still lacks of a real calendar for the 2010 season;
- additional debts still owed to some National Federations (for the 2008 and 2009 season) as well as to CEV (for the 2009 ECT) are still to be paid.
Taking into consideration the above mentioned facts and the persistent difficulties for GSM to comply with the conditions previously agreed upon, the CEV Executive Committee has hence decided to submit to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) a detailed dossier about this case.