part due to media exposure during the Olympic Games. Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) is the biggest and longest-running professional beach volleyball tour in the United States. Rugby union Rugby union usually referred to in the U.S. simply as "rugby" is played professionally (Major League Rugby), recreationally and in colleges, though it is not governed by the NCAA (see college rugby). An estimated 1.2 million people in the United States play rugby. The U.S. national team has competed at the Rugby World Cup. In rugby sevens, the men's national team is one of 15 "core teams" that participate in every event of the annual World Rugby Sevens Series, and the women's national team is one of 11 core teams in the Women's Sevens Series. Major League Rugby, a professional domestic club competition, has been played since 2018. Rugby union participation in the U.S. has grown significantly in recent years, growing by 350% between 2004 and 2011. A 2010 survey by the National Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association ranked rugby union as the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. The sports profile in the U.S. has received a tremendous boost from the IOC's announcement in 2009 that rugby union (in its seven-a-side variant) would return to the Olympics in 2016. Since the Olympic announcement, rugby union events such as the Collegiate Rugby Championship, the USA Sevens, and the Rugby World Cup have been broadcast on network TV. The USA Sevens, held every year in February or March as part of the World Rugby Sevens Series, has regularly drawn more than 60,000 fans to Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, though the tournament will move to the Los Angeles area for at least its 2020 edition. The U.S. also hosts an event in the Women's Sevens Series. It had been held alongside the USA Sevens in the 2016–17 season, but was not held in 2017–18 (when the Rugby World Cup Sevens for both men and women was held in San Francisco). The USA Women's Sevens returned in 2018, after the World Cup Sevens, but is now a standalone event held in the Denver area that serves as the Women's World Series opener. Rugby union is the fastest growing college sport and sport in general in the United States. Rugby football formed the basis of modern American football; the two sports were nearly identical in the late 19th century but diverged into distinct, incompatible codes