Notte’s Notes
- Complementary, if not collaborative. With multiple professional women’s volleyball leagues to choose from, fans are going to follow their favorite players. LOVB and Athletes Unlimited realizing they have different schedules and a similar eye for talent creates huge opportunity for cross promotion while securing screen time for athletes from both leagues.
- Find your teammates. Jordan Thompson is a huge get for LOVB because of the talent she’s brought and the medal count she’s already compiled. But what makes LOVB a huge get for her, beyond being a domestic league, is that it works with her—it has an Athlete Council to guide it and to brainstorm business ideas, it allowed her to play in an offseason league she dominated, and it has brand partners and ownership groups willing to work with her and her fellow athletes. If you want to convince your partners they’re part of a team, do all you can to assure them they aren’t in it alone.
- What else do you have? If you’re “just” the fourth women’s volleyball league in the lineup with nothing but rosters to differentiate you from everyone else, you’re going to be in an arms race for your entire existence. By emphasizing developmental camps and pitching them to brand partners as part of the package, LOVB stretched a net between itself and the competition.
League One Volleyball (LOVB, pronounced "love" with the rare silent B) is gaining eyes and cameras ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics, and for good reason.
Founded in 2020 as a network of youth volleyball clubs, LOVB has grown to nearly 80 clubs in 22 states, featuring more than 3,500 coaches and 22,000 athletes. The organization launched its professional women's league in 2021, completing its inaugural season in April with six teams: Austin, Houston, Omaha, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, and Madison. Jordan Thompson, a two-time Olympian who plays for LOVB Houston, was already hearing “H-Town” typically reserved for the NFL’s Houston Texans during home-court matches at Fort Bend Epicenter.
Young fans rally for their favorite LOVB athletes
“I think it meant a lot to have such a supportive fan base in the first season of LOVB because these are people who bought into something brand new and celebrated history with us,” Thompson said. “It felt powerful to know that people want to support us on our mission to grow the game of volleyball in the U.S. by connecting the youth and pro, while providing visibility and opportunity.”
During its first year, LOVB and athletes including Thompson drew endemic sponsors like Adidas alongside brands including Spanx and online fashion retailer Revolve—neither of which had previously sponsored a sport. In July, the league secured a deal with Skims, the Kim Kardashian-founded brand already partnering with the NBA, WNBA, and Nike, to serve as the league's official "loungewear, intimates, and sleepwear partner."
"This partnership with LOVB is an exciting opportunity to expand our reach at the intersection of fashion, culture, and sports,” said Jens Grede, co-founder and CEO of SKIMS. “Volleyball highlights strength, teamwork, and rising female talent and we’re proud to partner with LOVB at this key moment, as LOVB’s mission to transform women’s volleyball aligns with SKIMS’ goal to empower women, both in sports and beyond.”
LOVB took its first set. Now it aims to win the match for women's volleyball.
The numbers support the ambition. NCAA volleyball viewership on ESPN jumped 21% last season, demonstrating clear audience appetite: if fans can access women's volleyball matches on screen, they watch.
A high octane freeze frame of a LOVB game
LOVB aired its inaugural season across DAZN, the Women's Sports Network, and ESPN channels, supplemented by the ESPN+ docuseries Undeterred, which followed U.S. Olympians Lauren Carlini, Kelsey Robinson Cook, and Jordan Thompson as they competed professionally overseas before joining LOVB. Entering its second season, LOVB secured a new broadcast partner in Versant’s USA Network to host standing Wednesday night matchups.
Broadcasters aren’t the only ones buying into the league. New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers owner David Blitzer, Peter Holt's Spurs Sports and Entertainment, and G9 Ventures founder Amy Griffin purchased the LOVB Austin franchise. University of Nebraska volleyball star Jordan Larson led a group that acquired LOVB Omaha and rebranded it LOVB Nebraska—a nod to the crowds in Lincoln who filled a football stadium for volleyball. Just this month, Lone Star Sports & Entertainment—owned by the NFL’s Houston Texans and guided by Texans Chair and CEO Cal McNair and VP of the Houston Texans Foundation Hannah McNair—assumed ownership of LOVB Houston, with Thompson seeing ownership’s potential to “grow our reach within the community” in Season 2.
By 2027, just before volleyball takes the world stage at the LA28 Olympics, Alexis Ohanian and his Seven Seven Six venture capital firm will launch LOVB Los Angeles.
“We want to be the best place to play and coach volleyball in the world, and it's a huge lift to start all this,” said Courtney Thompson, a volleyball national champion at the University of Washington and two-time Olympic medalist with Team USA who now serves as LOVB’s head of pro integration and co-director of youth coach development. “As we get better and learn from Season One, our athletes will be more in the essence of what they want to be about and what we want to be about, and we're very excited about how we're going to support them in better ways.”
The competitive landscape has also shifted in LOVB's favor. In August, the Professional Volleyball Federation (founded in 2020) and Major League Volleyball (debuting in 2026) merged into a single eight-team league playing concurrently with LOVB's 2026 season. A fourth league, Athletes Unlimited (AU), plays a complementary fall schedule, allowing LOVB to remain the sport's primary winter and spring destination. The arrangement benefits both: LOVB has placed the majority of AU's 44 roster spots with its own 27 players.
As players wrap up their AU season and enter LOVB's fall preseason—timed with the college volleyball slate—the league approaches Year 2 with 29.3 million social media followers, more than 191 million impressions, and claims the highest TikTok engagement rate of any sports league.
With players wrapping up their AU season and heading into LOVB’s fall preseason—which coincides with the college volleyball slate—LOVB moves toward its second season with 29.3 million social followers, more than 191 million impressions, and according to Rosie Spaulding, president of LOVB, the highest TikTok engagement rate of any sports league.
“In many ways, Season One was proof of concept,” said Spaulding. “We proved this model works, we proved that having athlete involvement shaping the league, having this youth-to-pro pipeline, and having community engagement was all there, and created a new way of establishing women's sports. So now, it's really about growing from there.”
Holding home-court advantage
LOVB's Year 2 strategy hinges on elevating star players like Jordan Thompson, the Olympian who has already become a recognizable face for league sponsors. Thompson won gold with the U.S. women's volleyball team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and claimed silver in Paris last year. Since turning professional in 2019, she spent most of her career competing in Turkey before joining LOVB Houston for the league's inaugural season.
Jordan Thompson serving in a 2025 game
Playing abroad came with significant costs beyond distance and homesickness. Thompson's years in Europe limited her access to U.S. sponsorship opportunities. She could partner with brands like Under Armour—which supported her youth volleyball camps—only when she returned home or competed in the Olympics. Seven months annually in Europe made it nearly impossible to fulfill partnership obligations from thousands of miles away.
“It was difficult maintaining relationships/ growing relationships with brands while overseas partially because when you're gone overseas you don't have the same visibility in the states,” Thompson said. “There are times when brands would want to send products and you can't have things shipped easily overseas due to customs and stuff like that, so you miss out on opportunities at times because of that.”
Competing full-time in the U.S. changed everything. Thompson has now developed deeper relationships with brands including Revolve, which featured her prominently on its social media and had her return the favor. Beyond brand work, she joined LOVB's Athletes Council, collaborating with fellow players to shape the league's direction and develop sponsorship strategies.
This fall, Thompson proved that a LOVB player could excel beyond the league itself. She competed in Athletes Unlimited, a player-run professional volleyball circuit, and captured the individual championship—the highest individual honor. Playing on multiple player-selected rosters, she scored more points than any competitor. The league gave her the opportunity to play within another player-run environment—with AU’s Player Executive Committees determining details from league draft picks to player benefits—but also ensured her more visibility thanks to AU’s own broadcast and streaming agreements on ESPN platforms.
Thompson views AU and its media partners—much like LOVB's new USA Network deal—as expanding screen time for professional volleyball players across the country. LOVB's Spaulding shares this perspective, characterizing AU as "complimentary" and "a great preseason warmup for us,” with substantial opportunities for cross-promotion between the two leagues.
“Where we connect most is the growth of the sport as a whole and wanting the sport of volleyball to take off in this country: For every kid that gets to watch professional volleyball on TV to be inspired to go try to be their best and be great teammates, and for the pro athletes and pro coaches in our country and outside of our country to have more opportunities to compete at the highest level here,” Courtney Thompson said. “We celebrate all of that, and it's been really fun and meaningful for our athletes to have more opportunities.”
Setting up brand wins
Bars and restaurants that broadcast volleyball matches on ESPN channels catch the attention of fans and brands alike—particularly when matches are easy to find and schedule. Even during LOVB's inaugural year, when ESPN platforms carried just 28 matches, the league secured 30 brand partners before its first serve. Spaulding credits this early success to the league's visibility, which she anticipates will grow further with a regular Wednesday night slot on USA Network.
However, visibility alone doesn't explain the enthusiasm from corporate sponsors. Spaulding points to LOVB's deeper competitive advantage: more than 23,000 athletes ages 8 to 18 competing in LOVB youth clubs.
“That's what's resonating with brands, and I think that's what helps us stand out,” Spaulding said. “Many of our athletes are as excited about playing pro with us as they are about giving back to the younger versions of themselves, which means that they're more accessible, more available…it's really the core of everything, knowing that, and then the importance of building the brands of these women in hand in hand with the league, and that the two things grow together.”
While youth developmental clubs remain invisible in match broadcasts and documentaries, they're already shaping the brands and investments flowing into the league for 2026 and beyond. The numbers tell the story: between the 2018-19 and 2024-25 school years, high school volleyball participation surged from 516,371 players to 588,771—a jump of roughly 72,000 athletes. Girls' volleyball now ranks second only to track and field among high school sports for female participation.
Brands recognize this pipeline. When Skims announced its LOVB partnership this summer, co-founder and chief creative officer Kim Kardashian specifically highlighted club volleyball's role in building the sport.
“We’re excited to partner with League One Volleyball and to support the incredible community they’re building from youth players all the way to the professional stage,” Kardashian said. “Together, we look forward to inspiring confidence and empowering athletes at every level through innovative products, community activations, and storytelling that celebrates the athletes on and off the court.”
LOVB's expansion demonstrates the same strategic thinking. In announcing its new Los Angeles franchise, the league spotlighted Ohanian's founding ownership of the National Women's Soccer League's Angel City FC alongside club volleyball teams—Team Rockstar, SC Rockstar, Tstreet Inland Empire, and Tstreet Irvine—that have brought more than 900 girls and boys onto the court.
“Having a city that has such a rich history in volleyball joining the league before the LA Olympics will be mutually beneficial for LOVB and Team USA,” Jordan Thompson said. “It's the perfect opportunity to build excitement around the U.S. national team playing at home in front of friends and family while also bringing in new fans to the league.”
Entering its second season just two years before the Los Angeles Olympics, the LOVB boasts more than 20 former Olympic volleyball players on its roster, including U.S. women's team head coach Eric Sullivan, who coaches defending champion LOVB Austin. For fans and brands seeking to engage the volleyball community, LOVB has positioned itself as an essential destination well beyond the closing ceremonies.
“We're thrilled about it and, yes, it's all been very intentional and it's really meaningful timing for us where the whole world is watching our sport,” Courtney Thompson said. “We have over 20 athletes in our league this year that have competed in Olympics, and certainly a lot more that will be striving to make rosters for the L.A. Olympics, and we want athletes to develop on and off the court to compete at that level. It's a fun time for the world to be invested in volleyball in the U.S.”