League One Volleyball (LOVB) is considering adding at least two teams by the 2027 season, according to LOVB Pro president Rosie Spaulding, as it seeks to develop a “major league” in the U.S. at the pinnacle of a growing sport.
LOVB made its debut last week with six teams, one each in Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Houston; Madison, Wis.; Omaha, Neb.; and Salt Lake City. Under a single entity structure, LOVB placed its teams in cities with strong ties to the sport at the college level, as well as areas where the company had preexisting club programs for younger players.
LOVB believes its pipeline of roughly 18,000 athletes provides it with fans for the pro games, potential future players, facility infrastructure and a business model necessary to support growing a spectator sport venture—all part of the pitch that helped the company land $100 million in investment last year. But as it goes forward, Spaulding said LOVB would also consider placing teams outside of the hotbed footprints. The league might also accelerate its growth timeline.
“There’s been a lot of interest,” Spaulding said in a video interview.
Over time, LOVB Pro intends to shift to an individual team owner model, but the league deliberately started relatively small and centrally controlled. The founding six teams are playing a 14-week schedule that includes one marquee midweek match and then four games played on a single site during the weekend. Games air on ESPN’s platforms, including ESPN+.
While teams build local fan bases, league executives are also keen to grow individual player brands, recognizing the way other women’s sports stars—such as Caitlin Clark, Ilona Maher, Alex Morgan and Serena Williams—have expanded the fan bases for their sports.
The league picked up six college stars, dubbed the LOVB 6, for its inaugural season, with one sent to each team. Prioritizing both competitive balance and local connections, the University of Nebraska’s Lexi Rodriguez plays for LOVB Omaha, and Texas’ Madisen Skinner was placed on LOVB Austin. Both of those players have more than 150,000 followers on Instagram.
“Telling the stories of these athletes and building the eminence of these women is really as important as building the league,” Spaulding said.
Volleyball is growing in the U.S. in terms of both local club membership and TV viewership. More than 470,000 high schoolers played girls volleyball in 2022-23, second only to track and field in terms of participation, while fans consumed a record 1.3 billion minutes of NCAA tournament action across ESPN’s platforms in 2024, the company reported. Executives have pointed to airtime on conference-specific TV networks as an accelerant of the sport’s national awareness.
“We have this big goal of making volleyball a major league sport,” Spaulding said.
But LOVB has competition among professional ranks. The Pro Volleyball Federation recently started its second season, with TV exposure across CBS and Fox networks, as well as Roku. PVF has a more traditional league-and-franchise structure, with eight teams, including ones in Atlanta and Omaha. There is also Athletes Unlimited, which puts on a five-week competition, as well as pro leagues overseas.
Both LOVB and PVF have committed to player salaries starting at $60,000. Each has also lined up big name investors, with Jason Derulo and Joe Burrow backing the PVF and Jayson Tatum and Lindsey Vonn investing in LOVB.
Winning supporters in the local markets will be key to league viability. The subsequent step for LOVB will be developing players into household names.
“I’m not sure that it’s necessarily one—I’d love to see stars break out in each of our cities,” Spaulding said.
