OMAHA, Neb. — On a cold Friday night in January, the volleyball attracted more than 15,000 fans.
It featured U.S. Olympians and international stars, top-level coaches and intense competition that stretched over most of three hours. Among rosters filled with recent college All-Americans, several former Nebraska and Creighton standouts delivered local flavor and excitement.
Dignitaries sat courtside. A USA Volleyball representative took a chair behind the service line.
The environment offered a snapshot of volleyball bliss — something of a pipe dream three years ago for spectators, participants and leaders in the sport. Booming at the youth and collegiate levels in the United States, women’s volleyball has found footing on the pro scene.
“I don’t know that there’s any easy way to quantify it. But it’s huge,” said Erik Sullivan, coach of the U.S. national team. “This is the final piece of the puzzle to get this thing going where it needs to go.”
With key markets ripe to foster growth as the United States prepares to host the FIVB World Championship with Canada in 2027 and the Olympic Games in 2028, a question remains: Is volleyball positioned to showcase its best product while the window is open?
For decades, professional opportunities existed exclusively overseas. Now backed by big-name investors, TV contracts, sponsorship dollars and ownership groups tied to top American pro sports, two bona fide pro leagues have emerged since 2023: Major League Volleyball and League One Volleyball.
The organizations jostle for top players, fans and recognition. Ultimately, they’re fighting for viability.
“I hope they don’t cannibalize each other,” Sullivan said.
In Omaha, hailed as the “Mecca of volleyball,” the aforementioned 15,000-plus gathered not at one venue — but at two, simultaneously, on Jan. 30.
LOVB matched its Nebraska squad against the team from Madison, Wis., at Baxter Arena. The home team won 16-14 in the decisive fifth set, powered by Nebraska native Jordan Larson, the four-time U.S Olympian, and Brazilian icon Ana Carolina da Silva.
Eight miles away, downtown at the CHI Health Center, the Omaha Supernovas of MLV defeated the San Diego Mojo 21-19 in the fifth set, a thriller played before a crowd of 11,608. In starring roles for Omaha were Kiara Reinhardt, Reagan Cooper, Brooke Nuneviller, Merritt Beason, Sydney Hilley and Morgan Hentz, former All-Americans from Creighton, Kansas, Oregon, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Stanford, respectively.
Sarah (Wilhite) Parsons, a veteran outside hitter for the Supernovas, played seven seasons in Europe, Asia and South America. In the past year, she has had a taste of LOVB and MLV.
“I’m just blown away every time I think about the fact that I get to play in the States,” Parsons said. “My job is to be grateful for where I’m at, where my feet are. I have a lot of friends in both leagues who are having amazing experiences. So there’s really nothing bad to say about the situation.”
But the pro structure could function more efficiently.
The Supernovas compete as one of eight teams in MLV, rebranded last August after two seasons as the Pro Volleyball Federation. LOVB (pronounced “love”) operates independently as a six-team league with a different organizational model than MLV.
“You have two entities that are spending significant resources to get this thing going,” Sullivan said. “Part of me wants to think, ‘Wow, what if we had all of that combined into one?’ That seems like it would be more beneficial.”
Competition creates discomfort, Sullivan said, which breeds growth.
What stands in the way of a merger? It’s complicated.
Sullivan himself has chosen a side. He coaches LOVB Austin, which won in Omaha against LOVB Nebraska on Feb. 1, two days after the crosstown head-to-head between leagues. A group of Sullivan’s LOVB Austin players attended the MLV match as the Nebraska-Madison contest was played that Friday night.
“You think and you hope that the end result is a great and really strong professional league,” Sullivan said. “On the national side of things, it’s just created more opportunity for more people.”
With that, everyone agrees.
“More volleyball is a good thing,” said Sandra Idehen, the recently appointed first commissioner of LOVB Pro. “For so many years, our best and brightest, most talented players weren’t visible to the domestic audience.
LOVB, in addition to Omaha, Austin and Madison, plays in Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Houston. MLV teams are based in Omaha, San Diego, Atlanta, Dallas, Orlando, Indianapolis, Columbus, Ohio, and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Both leagues plan to expand into three new markets in 2027. Both are backed by multiple rounds of fundraising. MLV announced $100 million in committed support last year. LOVB received a $100 million investment in 2024, led by private equity firm Atwater Capital, in addition to an initial stake of $60 million.
Both leagues have TV deals. MLV partners with CBS, the Roku Channel and ION. ESPN platforms and the USA Network air LOVB matches.
Players in both are paid base salaries of $60,000 to slightly less than $200,000.
Their pay compares favorably to many overseas options; however, top players in the Italian and Turkish leagues can earn seven-figure contracts.
“This gives young kids something to dream about, something aspirational,” said Jaime Gordon, CEO of the American Volleyball Coaches Association. “Prior to this, the majority of them were dreaming about playing in the Olympics.
“That still exists, but now you give them something else.”
Something more attainable.
“I think this is a defining moment,” said John Cook, the former University of Nebraska coach who amended his retirement plans last summer to buy a piece of the Supernovas and serve as their general manager. “There’s a golden opportunity for volleyball to take off. It’s one of the reasons I got involved.
“We’re sitting on something that can really go.”
A third pro organization in the United States, Athletes Unlimited, has operated since 2021 with a monthlong fall schedule to provide additional training. Its rosters mix players from MLV and LOVB — the primary competitors in this volleyball race.
An icy kind of recognition exists between two leagues.
“Their product is just different,” said Jen Spicher, the CEO of MLV. “Their business model is different. Personally, I don’t — and I know our board of directors and our owners don’t — believe it’s sustainable.”
LOVB leans into a grassroots ecosystem, connecting with club programs at the youth levels to build brand value and equity with athletes. The organization was founded in 2020, more than four years before its first pro match in 2025.
Affiliations with current and former college stars paid off in allowing LOVB to sign the top American talent. Ten of 13 players from the silver medal-winning 2024 U.S. Olympic team have competed for LOVB squads.
Consequently, its level of play more resembles the Olympic style than in MLV.
“We’re focused on what differentiates us — the caliber of play, Olympic athletes and top international athletes,” said Idehen, the LOVB commissioner. “We’re making sure this is the gold standard.”
A higher percentage of international players fill out LOVB teams. MLV teams feature a heavy mix of former college stars.
MLV holds a draft annually in November and aims for a traditional, pro-league structure. Its 2025 champion, the Orlando Valkyries, made history in December as the first American team to compete in the FIVB Women’s Club World Championship.
“That was a monumental moment,” Spicher said.
“Our league is about rising stars. Our league is about connecting with those people that don’t even know volleyball exists.”
For Parsons, the Supernovas’ outside hitter who played professionally on three continents, the milestones are more personal. She kept an eye on volleyball in America in 2024 as the first full-fledged pro season began.
Parsons played at the time for Kuzeyboru in the top Turkish league.
“It felt far away,” she said. “But even the fact that people were talking about playing in their home cities and having the chance for family and friends to sit in the stands, I don’t want to say I was jealous.”
But she was a bit jealous.
Parsons and her husband, Jameson, wanted to have a child — but not while Sarah lived overseas. She planned to play for LOVB Madison in 2025. Parsons was pregnant as the season approached. Her son Ezra was born early in the year. She required a C-section and did not compete in the LOVB season, which spans January to April.
When Parsons, the 2016 AVCA Division I National Player of the Year at Minnesota, began to train again last summer, she connected with Hentz, the former Stanford All-American. They served together as alternates on the 2024 U.S. Olympic team. Hentz played for the MLV’s Atlanta Vibe in 2024 and 2025. She had signed for 2026 with the Supernovas, coached by ex-Team USA assistant Luka Slabe.
The decision was that simple for Parsons, who joined Hentz in Omaha in the MLV. At age 30, Parsons, with her son and husband alongside, doesn’t give a moment of thought to the rivalry between American leagues — and what might be lost amid a fractured landscape.
“To me, it’s more opportunity for volleyball,” Parsons said. “Women’s volleyball is growing. Women’s sports are growing. And so I think at this point, it is a positive thing.”
Players who enter the pro leagues straight from college occasionally face more painstaking choices. In some cases, they negotiate with both leagues.
Eva Hudson, the former Kentucky and Purdue All-American, was drafted in the third round two months ago by Atlanta of the MLV. She would have slotted higher, but Hudson made it known before the draft that she planned to sign with LOVB.
She debuted this month with LOVB Atlanta. The Vibe retain her MLV rights for two years.
“It’s an added stress,” Hudson said. “It was hard picking between the two, because both are great leagues. I’d like to see one league. It would be easier. We’d have all the talent in one place.”
Crossover is inevitable.
Former Penn State libero Gillian Grimes signed before this season with MLV’s San Diego Mojo as a second-round pick. She was waived in early January and added to LOVB Madison’s roster three weeks later.
Meanwhile, Pitt star Olivia Babcock is set to enter pro volleyball in 2027 as the most talented American rookie since the U.S. leagues began play.
Babcock has twice won the AVCA player of the year and the Honda Award for volleyball. She returns as a senior opposite hitter for the Panthers in 2026, seeking a fourth consecutive trip to the Final Four. When her time comes this year to pick a professional path, she holds more cards than most.
“I still have absolutely no idea,” Babcock said.
The landscape can appear confusing — to fans and to players. Babcock said she studies the moves of 28-year-old Team USA opposite hitter Jordan Thompson, who plays for LOVB Houston. Babcock, 20, also watched last year as Pitt teammates Brooke Mosher and Bre Kelley were drafted and signed with MLV teams.
“I’ve had a few introductions,” Babcock said. “But I haven’t entertained any of it. Just based off what I’ve heard, it’s similar to the recruiting process out of high school. But even more exciting. This is your career.”
The NFL and the NBA achieved their current structure after competing leagues merged.
It’s a fact not lost on leaders in volleyball. But executives in LOVB and MLV remain bullish about their prospects to succeed without joining forces.
No merger is imminent.
“It doesn’t mean that it won’t be in a year or two,” Spicher said. “You never say never.”
Sullivan, the U.S. national team coach, said he hopes it happens, but he’s not fearful that the window for success will close anytime soon.
“I think there’s enough surge and growth behind the sport that someone’s going to come out on top, or a combination of the two,” he said. “Eventually, we’ll get to whatever that model is.”
In Omaha, the Supernovas play in the larger arena with more resources devoted to event management and staffing. Market to market, the fan experience — and the process to produce it — varies.
Both leagues plan expansion next year in Minnesota and the Bay Area in California. LOVB is adding Los Angeles, while MLV will expand to Washington, D.C.
The moves allow MLV to align with groups that own stakes in the Minnesota Wild, Sacramento Kings, Buffalo Bills and DC United. Likewise, LOVB has identified ownership groups for three of its six original clubs and two of its three expansion teams for 2027, said Rosie Spaulding, the former COO and president of LOVB.
“It’s accelerated far faster than what I would have imagined when we started this,” Spaulding said.
Friday through Sunday in Kansas City, the midseason LOVB Classic features one match involving each of the league’s six teams.
The race is assuredly on.
In the boardrooms, it plays out in the form of competition for celebrity influence and investors. The initial list of LOVB backers featured Kevin Durant, Candace Parker and Jayson Tatum. MLV got Joe Burrow, Kerri Walsh Jennings and those deep-pocketed pro sports owners — Dan DeVos, Craig Leipold, Viveke Ranadive, Theresia Gouw and Jason Levien.
Colleen Craig, owner of the Atlanta Vibe, said she saw an opportunity in pro volleyball a decade ago. But the market was not yet primed. It is now.
“You don’t have to re-invent the wheel sometimes,” Craig said. “(MLV is) focused on professional sports. We are building a model that sustains.”
ESPN reported a one-year viewership increase for volleyball of 36 percent during the 2025 collegiate regular season. Two NCAA semifinal matches and the national championship drew audiences of more than 1 million viewers. The Dec. 21 final, a Texas A&M sweep against Kentucky, peaked at 1.7 million.
Attendance records in college have fallen repeatedly since August 2023, when Nebraska drew 92,003 for a match inside its football stadium.
The MLV commissioner said she fields weekly requests from parties interested in bringing a team to “this city or that city.”
“People believe in the product that we’re putting on the floor,” Spicher said. “And they believe in what we’re doing. They understand that this sport is pretty special, that these athletes are obviously very special.
“They can see that now is the time.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Sports Business, Olympics, College Sports, Women's Olympics
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