League One Volleyball is set to debut this month. It is a professional women's team, and I believe may have a chance of making it.

My youngest daughter wants to watch some games since she loves the sport, so I will probably attend a couple of games with her.

https://www.ksl.com/article/51223401/lo ... -pro-sport

Investors including Lindsey Vonn, Kevin Durrant, and Candace Parker put up $160 million for this. Players will make about $60,000 per season starting out. With the popularity of the sport, particularly among girls, I think this may have a future.

When I was a sophomore at Hunter high in 1995 there was a women’s pro team who played their home games at our school. I was on the basketball team and they used our locker rooms and trashed them every weekend home game. Only lasted one season; hopefully this one makes it!

greggers1868 wrote: ↑

January 9th, 2025, 10:17 am

When I was a sophomore at Hunter high in 1995 there was a women’s pro team who played their home games at our school. I was on the basketball team and they used our locker rooms and trashed them every weekend home game. Only lasted one season; hopefully this one makes it!

It has a contract with ESPN and funding from several well-known investors. I think it has a pretty good shot. They won their first match last night 3-1 in Atlanta. My daughter, who played volleyball last season, wants to go and watch some in person. I am biased, but women's volleyball is much more exciting to me than a lot of other sports out there.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2 ... 556662007/

The other thing is that this is not just a pro-league, it is a developmental program with clubs for youth of all ages across the country. That is a good way to build a fanbase in my opinion, a little like the Jr. Jazz leagues.

I sold ad space and season tickets for pro coed VB back a zillion years ago. Didn't last in Utah more than a single season, and we didn't make much because interest was slight.

Let's hope this one sticks.

USU78 wrote: ↑

January 9th, 2025, 10:28 am

I sold ad space and season tickets for pro coed VB back a zillion years ago. Didn't last in Utah more than a single season, and we didn't make much because interest was slight.

Let's hope this one sticks.

I certainly has the monetary backing, and projections are the investors will receive a return. I guess we shall see.

https://www.lovb.com/news/100M-in-new-f ... volleyball

looks like games are on ESPN+ and ESPNU (I thought the U stood for University?) and also LOVB streaming?

Madison's team will be playing in UW-M's volleyball stadium -the game against SLC on next Friday has most of the sideline seats sold out. Not a bad place for a team, Madison, is a VB madhouse. Kids from this area go to kids VB tourneys there and Wisconsin Dells almost all spring/summer long

NowhereLandAggie wrote: ↑

January 9th, 2025, 10:22 am

greggers1868 wrote: ↑

January 9th, 2025, 10:17 am

When I was a sophomore at Hunter high in 1995 there was a women’s pro team who played their home games at our school. I was on the basketball team and they used our locker rooms and trashed them every weekend home game. Only lasted one season; hopefully this one makes it!

It has a contract with ESPN and funding from several well-known investors. I think it has a pretty good shot. They won their first match last night 3-1 in Atlanta. My daughter, who played volleyball last season, wants to go and watch some in person. I am biased, but women's volleyball is much more exciting to me than a lot of other sports out there.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2 ... 556662007/

The other thing is that this is not just a pro-league, it is a developmental program with clubs for youth of all ages across the country. That is a good way to build a fanbase in my opinion, a little like the Jr. Jazz leagues.

With how good USU volleyball has been the past few seasons I’ve gotten really into myself. Trying to get my daughter into playing also.

AGinNEIowa wrote: ↑

January 9th, 2025, 10:34 am

looks like games are on ESPN+ and ESPNU (I thought the U stood for University?) and also LOVB streaming?

Madison's team will be playing in UW-M's volleyball stadium -the game against SLC on next Friday has most of the sideline seats sold out. Not a bad place for a team, Madison, is a VB madhouse. Kids from this area go to kids VB tourneys there and Wisconsin Dells almost all spring/summer long

It is an interesting choice of team locations, and probably due to some of the built-in collegiate fanbases.

Atlanta - Georgia Tech
Austin - UT Austin, a recent NCAA champ
Houston - Close to Texas A&M
Madison - University of Wisconsin
Omaha - Nebraska, a national volleyball power and Creighton also fields competitive teams
Salt Lake - BYU men/women, Utah, and USU all field very competitive teams

I do wonder if a team will be looked at near Penn State, they have a very good program and a fairly large following.

NowhereLandAggie wrote: ↑

January 9th, 2025, 11:21 am

AGinNEIowa wrote: ↑

January 9th, 2025, 10:34 am

looks like games are on ESPN+ and ESPNU (I thought the U stood for University?) and also LOVB streaming?

Madison's team will be playing in UW-M's volleyball stadium -the game against SLC on next Friday has most of the sideline seats sold out. Not a bad place for a team, Madison, is a VB madhouse. Kids from this area go to kids VB tourneys there and Wisconsin Dells almost all spring/summer long

It is an interesting choice of team locations, and probably due to some of the built-in collegiate fanbases.

Atlanta - Georgia Tech
Austin - UT Austin, a recent NCAA champ
Houston - Close to Texas A&M
Madison - University of Wisconsin
Omaha - Nebraska, a national volleyball power and Creighton also fields competitive teams
Salt Lake - BYU men/women, Utah, and USU all field very competitive teams

I do wonder if a team will be looked at near Penn State, they have a very good program and a fairly large following.

I think this league has a chance to make it, especially if they can grow the youth club teams. The club teams is probably where the money will really be made while the pro league drives overall popularity. The connection between the club teams and pro teams provides a ton of cross marketing opportunities.

If there is eventually a team in Pennsylvania, it would likely be in Philly or Pittsburgh. While PSU has a really strong v-ball program for both men and women (congrats to the women for their latest NCAA championship), State College is probably too small and remote to really support a team unaffiliated with PSU. On the list above, Madison is the smallest metro population at around 700k, more than 4x that of State College.

It will be interesting to see what league makes it as another league started and played in 2024.

I know we looked at getting season tickets as we are a VB family, but they were originally marketing the season tickets BEFORE they announced where they would play.

Another benefit, if you have club tournament matches at Club V North, they put in new courts replacing the snap court for a bunch of the courts. I guess because LOVB practices there, it was one of the upgrades.

of course, it didn't do crap for watching as a parent. But my kid likes playing on the new surface better.

How does this league compare to the league that Jordan Love’s fiancé plays in?

CacheCow wrote: ↑

January 12th, 2025, 8:20 pm

How does this league compare to the league that Jordan Love’s fiancé plays in?

There are 3 pro volleyball leagues that were started very recently. Salt Lake's is LOVB, there is a Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF), and Athletes Unlimited.

https://apnews.com/article/pro-volleyba ... 5c27355e45

In my opinion LOVB has the most solid business plan of all of them with games on ESPN and the junior clubs to build a fanbase. I doubt all 3 survive. Ronika Stone, Jordan Love's fiance, plays in the PVF for the SD Mojo. I do wonder if in time an AFL/NFL type merger occurs if these leagues are both successful.