Rick’s Cafe: Will shotgun marriage of the Preakness and pro beach volleyball save them both?

The accompanying photo was shot to be used in: a.) A beer ad; b.) The new Bravo series Real Housewives of Fayette County; or c.) Promos for a new sport, Steepletanning. And now your guess involving horses on jet skis is also wrong, so I’m going to turn over all the cards. Surprisingly the answer includes both beach volleyball and the Preakness.

It really was a match made in heaven, or possibly an office building in El Segundo. The brand new National Volleyball League was looking for a way to make a big splash with its debut event, and the Preakness Stakes was searching for answers to stop it from hemorrhaging attendance. Then suddenly, like that time in The Far Side when the banana truck crashed into Sergio’s Daiquiri Bar, an idea was born.

On Saturday at the Pimlico Race Track infield, the National Volleyball League will hold its second-ever event prior to the 136th running of the Preakness Stakes. Preliminary rounds take place on Friday at Baltimore Beach’s Rash Field, before top men’s and women’s teams move the semifinals and finals on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Pimlico infield. The NVL is a reboot of the AVP, the professional beach volleyball league that folded its cabana tent in August of 2010 because, like much of America, it was flat broke. But the bikini-clad body wasn’t even cold when now-retired AVP standout and former UCLA national champion Albert Hannemann had the idea to bring it back in another form. He quickly secured financial backing and before he knew it found himself as CEO of the new circuit. Biggest problem: the NVL currently has few of the stars that made the AVP appealing. Biggest asset: It also has none of that league’s crippling debt. So even though some say the timing may not be right for such a venture, the NVL is launching anyway.

“Some of the players who put AVP on the map are not available to us now,” admitted Hannemann, who retired in 2010 following an 18-year pro volleyball career. Stars such as Olympic gold medalists Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh, Phil Dalhauser and Todd Rogers — the primary moneymaking names in the sport — are all currently training for the London Olympics, and won’t be gracing the NVL tour in the foreseeable future. The money is also significantly less than AVP numbers: this weekend’s tourney has a $75,000 purse. But that’s part of the reason for Hannemann’s new marketing plan, in which piggybacking on established big events replaces the reliance on stars. The NVL has six events scheduled this year, with the next destinations including Virginia Beach, Aspen, Miami and Long Beach, CA. Sponsors lined up so far are Wilson, Australian Gold, The ONE Group, Grand Touring Vodka, and EFX. The league is working on a network TV contract (Freemantle Media, which produces American Idol, is among those interested), but fans can see all events via live streaming on the NVL’s own media site.

“We’re trying to concentrate on the interest of the fans and bring them what really makes the sport compelling,” Hannemann said. “We’re conducting clinics and junior volleyball exhibitions, sending our athletes all over to work with young people and help build the sport at the grassroots level. For instance, we make it mandatory for our athletes to interact with the fans at our events. Those things are important aspects of our marketing plan that were absent with the AVP.”

Meanwhile, the Preakness benefits by having another attraction for its weeklong circus — or as the Maryland Jockey Club likes to call it, Infieldfest. When the MJC banned spectators from bringing their own alcohol in 2009 (due to a series of unfortunate events in previous years), attendance at the Preakness plummeted: from 112,222 fans in 2009 to 77,850 in 2010. Thus Kegasus was born, a centaur mascot (yep) who is half horse, half human and presumably all inebriated. Touting the Preakness’s renewed tolerance toward booze, Kegasus is featured in a series of online ads and will even be on hand at Infieldfest itself (pictured. Please do not poke or otherwise molest Kegasus).

Although fans still may not bring in their own alcohol, the Preakness infield will feature plenty of its own, including membership in the Infield MUG Club for $60 (Preakness week: $70). Also, bands such as Bruno Mars, Train and Puddle of Mudd will perform a series of concerts, and there will be bikini contests and something called the Jägermeister Cornhole Tournament; making the entire production potentially just a notch less debaucherous than a Dennis Rodman sleepover.

Racing purists are horrified, of course. But all of this is great news to Hannemann, who couldn’t have asked for a bigger, boozier star from which to hitch his wagon.

“I didn’t even know what Kegasus was until a couple of days ago. When I found out, I thought yeah, cool,” Hannemann said. “A giant media hit like this gets us on the map.”

Kegasus and beach volleyball — another match made in heaven? Probably. I’d watch where I stepped, however. Kegasus don’t do restrooms.

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Volleyball photos: Marc Serota/NVL

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Rick’s Cafe Americain appears each Thursday. Contact: Rickchand@gmail.com.