LOVB Pro
American women's volleyball league
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
LOVB Pro (pronounced "love" and commonly referred to as League One Volleyball) is a women's professional indoor volleyball league in the United States. The league is owned by League One Volleyball (LOVB), a volleyball body founded in 2020. The league held its first season in 2025.
Current season, competition or edition: 2026 LOVB Pro season | |
 | |
| Sport | Volleyball |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 19, 2021 |
| First season | 2025 |
| Owner | League One Volleyball |
| Commissioner | Sandra Idehen |
| No. of teams | 6 (expanding to 10 teams for 2027) |
| Country | United States |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, United States |
Most recent champion | LOVB Austin |
| Most titles | LOVB Austin (2 titles) |
| Broadcasters | USA Network ESPN |
| Streaming partners | ESPN Victory+ |
| Website | LOVB.com |
History
League One Volleyball (LOVB) was founded in 2020 by Katlyn Gao, Peter Hirschmann, and Olympian Kevin Wong as a network of youth volleyball clubs across the United States with the intent of eventually creating and sustaining a professional league.[1] As of July 2025[update], LOVB's youth business includes 77 club locations in 28 states, with over 22,000 youth athletes and 3,500+ coaches. These clubs provide volleyball coaching and preparation for team competition for youth ages 12-18 interested in playing travel volleyball. [2]
On October 19, 2021, LOVB formally announced the creation of its professional league, branded as LOVB Pro.[3]
On March 9, 2023, LOVB announced its first professional cities as Atlanta, Georgia, and Houston, Texas.[4] Upon announcement, each team also announced their first player or players (all of whom have won Olympic medals), dubbed their "founding athletes"; Atlanta announced Fabiana Claudino and Kelsey Robinson-Cook, and Houston announced Micha Hancock and Jordan Thompson.[4] On April 27, a team was added in Madison, Wisconsin, with founding athlete Lauren Carlini.[5] On June 5, the fourth city was announced as Salt Lake City, Utah, led by founding athletes Jordyn Poulter and Haleigh Washington.[6] On August 16, Omaha, Nebraska was announced as the fifth host city with founding athletes Jordan Larson and Justine Wong-Orantes.[7] In December, the league announced it would be building a dedicated training facility for LOVB Madison and area LOVB youth squads in the Madison suburb of Sun Prairie.[8] A week later, the league announced its final city as Austin, Texas, with founding athlete Carli Lloyd.[9]
2025 Inaugural season
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Team venues and schedules for LOVB Pro's inaugural 2025 season were announced on July 18, 2024, with each team playing 16 matches.[10] The season featured four matches per week, a single head-to-head match and a homestand-style "Weekend with LOVB" where one team would host two others for three total matches. An in-season tournament, the LOVB Classic, would be held alongside the Triple Crown NIT youth invitational in February in Kansas City, Missouri. The LOVB Finals, a single-elimination tournament involving all 6 teams, would be held in April in Louisville, Kentucky,[10] with LOVB Austin claiming the crown.
2026 season
LOVB's 2026 season featured the same 6 teams as in 2025, with LOVB Omaha rebranding as LOVB Nebraska. The season, which increased from 16 matches per team to 20, eschewed the "Weekend with LOVB" format and saw a revamp the LOVB Classic into a 3-match, non-tournament format with all 6 teams playing one match that counted in the season standings. The postseason was also revamped to include only the top-4 finishers in the single-table standings playing semifinal and championship rounds that were 2-match formats (with a first-to-15-point mini-match played if the first two matches were split). The semifinals were played in Louisville and the Championship round in Long Beach, California, where LOVB Austin defeated LOVB Salt Lake.[11]
Future plans
In the fourth quarter of 2025, LOVB announced its first expansion teams, located in Los Angeles, Minnesota, and San Francisco, would take to the court in 2027.[12][13][14] A fourth expansion team for 2027, LOVB Miami, was announced in May 2026, which will give the league 10 teams for 2027, split into two conferences — Atlanta, Madison, Miami, Minnesota, and Nebraska will comprise an Eastern Conference; Austin, Houston, Los Angeles, Salt Lake, and San Francisco will play in the Western Conference.[15]
Teams
As of July 2026, nine of LOVB Pro's ten teams do not have traditional city-nickname team identities, only being referred to as "LOVB" followed by the city, state, or region they represent. The expansion team initially known as LOVB San Francisco would be the first league team to reveal a traditional nickname — the San Francisco Signal — in July 2026.[16] At least two other teams, LOVB Houston and LOVB Nebraska, have been entertaining fan input on a more-traditional team identity.[17][18]
| Team | Location | Venue | Capacity | Joined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOVB Atlanta | Atlanta, Georgia | Gateway Center Arena McCamish Pavillion Overtime Elite Arena |
3,500 8,600 1,300 |
2025 |
| LOVB Austin | Austin, Texas | H-E-B Center Frost Bank Center Strahan Arena (2025) |
8,700 18,418 7,200 |
2025 |
| LOVB Houston | Houston, Texas | Berry Center Fort Bend Epicenter |
9,500 10,000 |
2025 |
| LOVB Madison | Madison, Wisconsin | Alliant Energy Center Wisconsin Field House (2025) |
7,432 7,540 |
2025 |
| LOVB Nebraska | Omaha, Nebraska | Baxter Arena Heartland Events Center Liberty First Credit Union Arena (2025) |
7.898 6,000 4,600 |
2025 |
| LOVB Salt Lake | Salt Lake City, Utah | Lifetime Activities Center BYU Smith Fieldhouse Maverik Center (2025) |
5,000 5,000 12,500 |
2025 |
Logos
Future
| Team | Location | Venue | Capacity | Joining |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOVB Los Angeles | Los Angeles, California | TBA | 2027[12] | |
| LOVB Miami | Miami, Florida | TBA | 2027[15] | |
| LOVB Minnesota | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Maturi Pavilion | 5,700 | 2027[13] |
| San Francisco Signal | San Francisco, California | TBA | 2027[14] | |
League sponsorship, funding, and ownership
On September 28, 2022, LOVB raised $16.75 million in a Series A funding round, headlined by Billie Jean King and Kevin Durant.[19] A year later, LOVB raised $35 million in a Series B round that included investments from Lindsey Vonn, Jayson Tatum, and Candace Parker.[20]
On June 17, 2024, LOVB and Adidas signed an apparel partnership that would make Adidas the uniform supplier of LOVB Pro.[21] Two days later, LOVB announced a partnership with Spanx, the apparel brand's first sports partnership, to provide apparel and support league initiatives for LOVB's youth and professional circuits.[22]
LOVB Pro owned and operated each of the six franchises that played its inaugural 2025 season. In June 2025, LOVB announced its first sale of a franchise, with a group headed by David Blitzer, Peter Holt (investing through his San Antonio-based Spurs Sports & Entertainment), and Amy Griffin purchasing the LOVB Austin franchise as well as acquiring an equity stake in the league.[23] In August 2025, it was announced that LOVB Omaha would be acquired by a group headlined by former Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball star Jordan Larson; it coincided with a team rebrand to LOVB Nebraska.[24]
Broadcasting
On May 9, 2024, LOVB and ESPN announced an international media rights agreement that would see 10 matches broadcast on ESPN networks and an additional 18 streamed on ESPN+ in the United States for the 2025 season. Alongside ESPN, Women's Sports Network, a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) network, would air 16 matches, most of which were Saturday doubleheaders.[25] Another streaming service, DAZN, also aired 16 matches both in the U.S. and globally.[26]
Outside the U.S., 28 LOVB matches in 2025 aired on ESPN networks in Brazil, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Central America, Spanish-speaking South America, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. SPOTV also aired all 60 LOVB matches to audiences in Southeast Asia.[26]
For the 2026 season, ESPN returned as a broadcaster for 28 matches. In addition, LOVB reached an agreement with USA Network to broadcast Wednesday night matches, the LOVB Playoffs and the LOVB Championships. The remaining matches 22 matches will stream on FAST network Victory+.[27]