AVP's Chicago Bracket, Before Anybody Played ☀️
Oak Street Beach, 5-6 September, first serve 10 a.m. Central both days. Miami and Palm Beach carried the men's byes, Palm Beach and Austin the women's.
The Progressive AVP League Championships ran on 5 and 6 September at Oak Street Beach in Chicago, on the lakefront at 1001 North Lake Shore Drive. Doors opened at 9 a.m. Central and first serve was 10 a.m. on both days.
Saturday carried the quarter-finals and the first semi-final in each draw. Sunday carried the other two semi-finals and both finals, and Sunday was the only day on television.
Saturday went out on the AVP's own YouTube channel from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Central and nowhere else. On Sunday, CBS Sports Network had the second semi-finals, women at 10 a.m. Central and men at 11.
The CW then carried the women's final at 1 p.m. Central and the men's at 2. Prize money was never published on any AVP page we could reach.
AVP published the full bracket on its own event page on 25 August and the seeding on 2 September. Saturday's women's quarterfinals were Brooklyn Blaze against Dallas Dream and Miami Mayhem against San Diego Smash, and the men's were New York Nitro against Austin Aces and San Diego Smash against LA Launch.
Palm Beach Passion and Austin Aces had the women's byes into the semifinals. Miami Mayhem and Palm Beach Passion had the men's. The 2 September post named the women's four in order as Palm Beach, Austin, Miami and Brooklyn.
Palm Beach Passion won the AVP League Cup on 30 July and the last places were settled in Dallas on 5 August.
That gave Palm Beach an unusual roster to bring into a final weekend. Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson played for it, and so did Trevor Crabb and Phil Dalhausser.
Taylor Crabb played for Miami Mayhem alongside Andy Benesh, which was the top men's seed. The brothers were in opposite halves and could only have met in the final.
One caution for anyone searching this up. AVP's own site still carries a Chicago championship preview with no year in the URL, dated August 2025, listing the 2025 seeds. The 2026 event page is the one under /event/2026-leaguechampionship/.
This page was written before the tournament and describes the bracket as it stood. The AVP did not publish the results until 9 September, three days after the finals were played.
