FIVB Unveils Sponsor; Talks Future of Sport

(ATR)(ATR) Honda is now a worldwide sponsor for the International Volleyball Federation, FIVB president Ary Graca announced the deal at a roundtable for journalists during the SportAccord Convention in St. Petersburg.

He said this marks the first time FIVB will have a "main sponsor."

Graca said the main focus of the sponsorship was not about money.

"When I talk about partnership it’s about reality. What they are going to do in the future using our name with the car."

Players love the deal, Graca said.

"They love it because they become an idol."

With the increased exposure, he added, also comes the opportunity to make more money.

Graca discussed the future of volleyball, expressing concern about the future of indoor volleyball, which he hopes to adapt more to the model of beach volleyball by making events more of an entertainment experience.

"We have to change our mentality" Graca said.

"In the last 60 years, we have had seven Olympic champions and only five world champions," in the indoor discipline he noted.

"This is not correct. Worse than that, in the last 20 years, 90 percent of the income in FIVB belongs to five countries: Japan, Brazil, Poland, Italy and eachyear another one."

Graca said the federation is studying what exactly could be done to make indoor volleyball more exciting for spectators and television audiences.

"We must listen to what the public wants, we must listen to the players, the coaches, everybody," he said. "We know we must change."

FIVB Television Advisor Fernando Lima offered some examples saying the indoor event means therecan be an increased use of lights and music.

Lima also said an "accelerated game" must be implemented to make the sport more attractive to television networks.

The federation is studying this too, said Lima, a former television executive in Brazil. One area that could be tweaked is the time between when a point is scored and the serve. Currently it averages around 25 seconds Lima said. In 1980 it was about 10 seconds.

Another bright spot in the future for volleyball is the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Volleyball is the second biggest sport in Brazil behind football, and Graca is the former president of the Brazilian volleyball federation.

"My experience in Brazil is that volleyball is the sport of the family," Graca said.

Reported and written in St. Petersburg by Ed Hula III.

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