I opened Tik Tok the other day to American volleyball player and Olympian Kelsey Cook responding to a comment on one of her videos. Cook was asked her thoughts on the differences between League One Volleyball (LOVB) and the Professional Volleyball Federation (PVF). She outlined the differences, then took a neutral stance saying that the more people who watch and play the game, the better it will be for the sport.
Another American volleyball player and Olympian Haleigh Storm created an Instagram post in early January informing followers how to create their own pro league. This post was intentionally ironic, making fun of the fact that three major pro leagues have broken ground in the U.S. within the past five years. The bottom of Storm’s post mentioned in fine print “Sponsored by RPDWS (rich people disenfranchising women’s sports) Look out WNBA. You’re next.”
The current buzz in the volleyball community surrounds the change and the increase in awareness for women finishing their collegiate volleyball careers and jumping into the world of pro volleyball, a booming industry for volleyball in America.
After graduating college, top notch players previously had the choice of either getting a job or moving overseas to pursue a career as an athlete. But now a third option is becoming more attractive, staying in the states and joining one of the three pro leagues. However, concerns have been raised on the quality and stability of these leagues following their initiation years.
PVF
PVF started an inaugural season in 2024 with seven teams consisting of 14 players on each roster. According to their website, the federation does not use line judges due to VolleyStation technology. They will have 14 away and 14 home matches in the 2025 season and will be awarding a $1 million prize to the winning championship team this season.
The website also outlines “we are not just an elevated level of club volleyball. Pro Volleyball Federation operates at a major league level and is advancing a traditional league model with teams in major markets across the country.”
LOVB
LOVB is a community; the foundation launched junior clubs in Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Madison, Omaha, and Salt Lake. These clubs will be the location of where the six pro teams practice. LOVB also sponsors 58 clubs across the country.
The foundation is all about bringing up players at the club level, sending them to play collegiate volleyball, then gaining them back as pro players. The website advertises that “LOVB is one holistic volleyball ecosystem, from club to pro. We are committed to championing the sport of volleyball – and every athlete who plays it – in unprecedented ways.”
AU
Athletes Unlimited (AU) offers a shorter, weekly changing of players, and is in partnership with USA Volleyball. The league launched indoor volleyball in 2021 and for five weeks, the top performing players drafted their own teams from scratch. This offers a player driven approach to the game, something that no other league has adopted. Last season the league duration was from Sep. 9 to Oct. 29. AU allows players to become comfortable playing with other pro players in a short amount of time as the league is not long enough or structured for that.
Prior to 2021, there was not a single way for women to make professional dollars playing club volleyball within the U.S., but many have used social media platforms to communicate that this change is only overcrowding a new industry.
These players and fans have a point, and this same pattern runs parallel to the start of women’s basketball 30 years ago. In 1996, the NBA launched their women’s league, WNBA. The American Basketball League (ABL) launched a few months prior to the WNBA. The ABL fizzled out and the WNBA has been the only current pro women’s basketball league in the country, until recently. A new league, Unrivaled, launched the week of January 30, 2024 for women’s basketball players.
Similar to women’s basketball, I believe that a large part of the work being done today is awareness efforts, Getting people to watch and play volleyball must initially be done for pro leagues to then grow in attendance and viewership, allowing them to make money to support their players.
Although there is backlash surrounding these new volleyball leagues, the current building of this industry will allow success later down the road. One of these leagues will eventually gain more attention than the others, but the question remains; which one?
