When people think of professional sports in the United States, the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is male sports. The National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) have been the most-watched professional sports leagues in the country for a while now. Although there are a couple women’s professional leagues as well, their viewership is minuscule in comparison to the other four.
Even though volleyball is the most popular high school team sport for girls currently, a professional volleyball league like the others did not exist in the United States until last year. When top college volleyball players wanted to continue their careers, their only option was to head overseas and play in one of the leagues in Europe or Asia.
For years, people have been begging for a league in the United States. This dream finally became a reality with the introduction of both the Professional Volleyball Federation (PVF) and League One Volleyball (LOVB).
PVF’s inaugural match took place in Omaha, Nebraska, on Jan. 24, 2024. With over 11,000 fans in attendance, people cheered on the Omaha Supernovas and Atlanta Vibe in a five-set thriller. Atlanta Vibe ended up winning that match, but a couple of months later, the Omaha Supernovas took the first-ever title of Pro Volleyball Federation Champions. In this league, each player must be drafted, meaning they are selected from a pool of athletes. In the first PVF season, there were seven teams in the league, but now in 2025, there are eight with the addition of Indy Ignite.
LOVB is another professional league that recently gained traction in the United States, with its first season taking place this year. Since it was founded back in 2020, this league is run differently from many other professional sports leagues. Instead of having drafts to select their players, LOVB has partnered with volleyball clubs across the country to help lead people down the path of club to professional volleyball and giving them more opportunities to do so.
There are six LOVB teams for this inaugural season, each one working with clubs in their areas to make young players better athletes. In hopes for players to eventually go professional, LOVB provides these clubs with high-level athletes and coaches to ensure they get the best training possible.
With the saying of “grassroots-to-pro,” LOVB hopes to make these professional teams from players in their respective areas. In order to reflect this goal, each team is named after the city it is based out of. LOVB Atlanta, LOVB Austin, LOVB Houston, LOVB Madison, LOVB Omaha and LOVB Salt Lake are the six 2025 teams, but there are plans to add more in the near future.
This method for developing teams from the ground up will be revolutionary for the world of professional sports. Instead of just selecting the best players after their college careers, younger athletes will have more opportunities to get to that level through elite training early in their lives. It will provide a pathway for people who are not as privileged to be able to fulfill their dreams of playing a professional sport.
