AVP Pro Beach Volleyball has signed a new contract with its top-ranked athletes, it was announced today. The four-year agreement is effective immediately and has been signed by the top American players and many of their counterparts, including U.S. Olympic gold medalists Kerri Walsh, Todd Rogers, Phil Dalhausser and others.

"We are thrilled to have a long-term deal with the AVP and are committed to forming a true partnership with the new management team to grow the sport – the momentum that we are seeing is exciting," said Kerri Walsh, two-time Olympic gold medalist and member of the AVP Players' Committee. "We want to grow together and bring our sport to an even higher level.  We all love beach volleyball and look forward to operating as a united front with our tour."

Signing a new agreement with the athletes was the top priority for the new management team, led by new CEO Jason Hodell.

"We are very excited to have completed a four-year agreement with our players," said Jason Hodell, CEO, AVP Pro Beach Volleyball. "Only genuine teamwork between the players, their representatives and our management team made this agreement possible."

The new agreement features progressive revenue-sharing, profit-sharing into bonus pools, a joint focus on important growth initiatives for the sport, and defined transparency and cooperation on sponsor marketing and activation initiatives, to include sponsor category-sharing and coordinated exclusivity.

"The player contract extension provides a foundation for the players to work closely with our tour to achieve great things in the future," said Todd Rogers, who along with his partner Phil Dalhausser won a gold medal in Beijing. "The AVP tour represents the best of beach volleyball in the U.S. and in the world – and we are excited for the future of the sport."

"We look forward to further forming a strong, productive partnership between AVP management and athletes. Working together, we can really build and enhance the sport we all love," said Al Lau, Vice President of Sport Development and Player Relations for the AVP.

"The players have a shared vision with AVP management and with RJSM pertaining to the consolidation and promotion of the sport of volleyball. There are significant growth opportunities present in the sport right now that we intend to capitalize on in partnership with the AVP pro tour," said athlete representative Ryan Morgan of MAG. "We are looking forward to the next four years and beyond."