The Association of Volleyball Professionals beach volleyball tour received Coastal Commission approval this week to charge admission at matches to be held this summer in Hermosa Beach. Without the ability to collect for tickets, the sport was threatening to leave its ancestral home on the South Bay sand. Now the situation gets complicated, as the Daily Breeze reports.

The commission's decision for the Hermosa Beach tournament should reverberate next week in Manhattan Beach, when its City Council decides whether to allow the AVP to pursue full paid admission this summer at its tournament, the so-called Wimbledon of beach volleyball.

Manhattan Beach City Councilman Richard Montgomery was pleased with the commission's decision Wednesday, seeing it as an indication that his city might get more local control of its beaches.

In January, Montgomery and his colleagues began the process of allowing more seating by initiating an amendment to its Local Coastal Plan, a set of guidelines for coastal use that the commission must later approve.

Knowing a decision regarding Hermosa's tournament would come Wednesday, the council intended to use the panel's ruling as a barometer for what might fly in Manhattan Beach.

Should the commission approve a similar admission level for the Manhattan Beach Open, the City Council can then set its own admission ratio -- whether that means charging 90 percent of attendees or sticking with the original 25 percent, Montgomery said.