Volleyballs in a cart at the Fitzgerald Field House.
2025 will see two professional volleyball leagues in America. The older, the Professional Volleyball Federation, or PVF, began its second season Jan. 9. The more novel League One Volleyball, or LOVB, pronounced love, began its inaugural season a day before on Jan 8. With two professional leagues competing at the same time, the age-old question emerges — can both survive in tandem or will one league reign supreme?
The WNBA competed with the ABL, the American Basketball League, in its early days. But because of the WNBA’s success, the ABL disbanded in 1998, just a year after the WNBA’s first season. In the decades since, has women’s sports grown enough since then to hold two leagues of the same sport?
Women’s sports from both entertainment and business perspectives are growing exponentially. In 2024, Nebraska Volleyball played Omaha at Memorial Stadium in front of a record-breaking crowd of over 92,000. That day remains a cornerstone in the new era of volleyball and women’s sports.
Women’s volleyball is on a path alone because it created a niche but familiar fan base. These fans were cultivated not because it is the female version of basketball or soccer, but because volleyball is just more popular as a women’s sport.
Part of that popularity is in its players. Stars like Madisen Skinner and Pitt’s own Olivia Babcock are both highly coveted Red Bull Athletes. The most notable men’s volleyball players are all pros, whereas women’s volleyball stars are in college, which has fans itching for more in the offseason.
The past route for college athletes who are hopeful to play in the professional ranks was to play overseas in international leagues. But now the PVF and the LOVB bring America’s talent stateside and directly in front of fans.
The PVF is what American fans are more used to. The federation hosts eight teams with specific branding, mascots and colors. Take for example the Columbus Fury, the closest team to Pittsburgh — its colors are red, gray and yellow, and its mascot is a fury, a vengeful mythological goddess who punished those who committed crimes.
Pitt volleyball alumni in the PVF include outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh and middle blocker Chiamaka Nwokolo who play for the Indy Ignite, outside hitter Valeria Vazquez-Gomez on the Omaha Supernovas and outsider hitter Kayla Lund on the San Diego Mojo.
On the other hand, the LOVB is less branded team by team. The league houses six teams, each with a specific color — no mascots or team names. Just a city and a color.
Pitt alumni in the LOVB include setter Rachel Fairbanks who plays for Atlanta and middle blocker Serena Gray who plays in Salt Lake City. The PVF is notably geared towards American sports fans. The league has a rule limiting each franchise to two international players per squad to house more recognizable names.
The LOVB enforces a different tactic to redirect volleyball fans by pooling college players to cities they played in. For example, LOVB Austin has nine Texas alums and LOVB Omaha has six Nebraska alums on their roster. Rather than using an American drafting and trading system like the PVF, the LOVB allows individual teams to directly sign players.
The LOVB has a media deal with ESPN and ESPN+, airing a total of 28 matches with each channel. The PVF has a deal with CBS Sports to air 10 matches and another with Fox Sports where its channels, FS1 and FS2, will air a total of 13 matches.
Across the board, investments in women’s sports are increasing. The LOVB garnered over $100 million in investments before its first serve, and a new, novel 3×3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled raised over $35 million before their first season this year. In the 412, Pittsburgh’s first women’s sports bar, aptly named Title 9, opens in February in Squirrel Hill.
The problem with the U.S. and women’s sports is the ever-present tether to its male counterpart. Take basketball for example — The NBA and the WNBA have similar logos, are seen as related and have overlapping audiences. The disconnect comes from the single letter W. Imagine it as an asterisk, saying “It’s like the NBA but with women”.
What the PVF and the LOVB are attempting to do is to reach the long-time gender-biased American sports fan. The two leagues are not trailing behind a men’s league and acting like a spinoff or a partnership. The PVF and the LOVB are popular because women’s volleyball is refreshing to an American audience that is used to its female athletes getting treated as secondary.
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