Professional volleyball league picks Madison for team, and … – Madison.com

Professional volleyball is coming to Madison.

League One Volleyball (LOVB) announced Thursday morning that the Madison area has been selected as one of the sites for its nascent league that is set to begin play in late 2024. Madison is the third location for the league, joining Atlanta and Houston.

Madison was a prime target right from the start for the league, said Katlyn Gao, co-founder and CEO of LOVB (pronounced Love). She cited the fervent support for the University of Wisconsin volleyball team and the areas growing club volleyball involvement as key factors in the citys appeal.

When we were looking for our next pro team location, it was clear Madison was it, Gao said. The market has everything were looking for record-breaking crowds, off the charts talent and passion that cant be manufactured. Its like capturing lightning in the bottle.

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LOVB is one of three organizations in the process of building pro volleyball operations in the United States, offering college players opportunities to continue their playing careers after graduation. Each has a slightly different approach to building its league.

Athletes Unlimited, which also operates womens basketball, softball and lacrosse competition, is in its third season of volleyball. AU, which put together a team this spring to play a series of exhibitions against top college programs, including a match against the Badgers at the UW Field House in March, will play its regular season this fall in Mesa, Arizona, after playing the first two seasons in the Dallas area. The AU format consists of 44 players, with different team captains selecting teams to compete over a five-week season.

The Pro Volleyball Federation plans to hold its inaugural season in 2024 with eight to 10 franchises playing 16 matches from February to May. The first four sites announced are Atlanta; Columbus, Ohio; Omaha, Nebraska; and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Investors in the league included Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and his family and former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer. Dilfers daughter, Tori, a former Louisville setter, is among the players involved in the league, along with Jenna Rosenthal (Marquette), Morgan Hentz (Stanford), Kenzie Maloney (Nebraska) and Ronika Stone (Oregon). Each franchise will have separate ownership and PVF plans to hold its first draft in November.

LOVB, meanwhile, is taking a holistic approach to the sport with involvement starting at the youth club level all the way up to the pros. It already has a foothold in the Madison area by operating Madtown Juniors with a facility with four courts on Madisons Northeast Side that houses about 370 young athletes.

LOVB has plans to build a new facility with eight courts that will be home to both the Madtown Juniors and the pros. Three other regional clubs, FC Elite, One Wisconsin and VC United, also will utilize the facility. Details of the new facility will be released soon, Gao said.

Were really building it from the community up, Gao said of the organization. So for the last three years weve had an eye on where the club and pro communities would reside. Madison matched that.

That was very intentional as we looked across the entire country and where we thought there would be a great fit for us to have not just a pro team in that city but also where the club and the pro community would come together.

Gao said the plan is to have six pro teams in place for the inaugural season, which will begin following the 2024 Paris Olympics. She foresees the league expanding as it goes.

One day were going to be the NBA of volleyball, so it is a national footprint that we will build over time, Gao said.

Until now volleyball players have had to go overseas to continue their careers after college. Previous attempts to establish pro leagues in the U.S. were short-lived, the most recent beginning and ending in 2001.

But Gao is confident that the time is right for the sport to move into the professional realm and that there is room for all three ventures to succeed.

One of the things that struck me the most about this very special sport is just how popular it is and how underappreciated it is, Gao said. Its awareness in the mainstream is just not where I personally think it should be. The fact that youve got multiple folks coming in and wanting to make something out of this special sport I think thats just a rising tide raises all boats.

There is a differentiation between the three and I think thats all very good. I think theres definitely going to be folks that feel really strongly about a specific niche. We feel very strongly that our combination of starting and having the discipline to start first with the fan base is extremely compelling.

PVF plans to pay players comparably with WNBA players, around $60,000 the first year with members of the championship team earning around $100,000 with bonuses.

Gao didnt get specific about player salaries for LOVB, but she did say the league will be competitive and attract top-level players.

The league has signed three members of the U.S. 2021 Olympics gold medal team, Haleigh Washington (Penn State), Kelsey Robinson (Tennessee/Nebraska) and Justine Wong-Orantes (Nebraska).

We definitely have compelling offers of a way to bring some of the best players onboard, she said. We already have three of the best in the world who have signed up and they all have lots of other choices. For these players its a combination of different things and compensation is one of the key factors.

At the same time for them to give up an opportunity to go elsewhere and choose LOVB instead, theres a belief in its longevity and its success and sustainability as a league. A lot of leagues have tried to start before and they have not lasted. These are very smart women who are making smart decisions by looking at it holistically and saying where do I want to take my career, who do I want to be associated with?

And especially for the founding athletes, theres a lot riding on this so theyre choosing it very carefully and I think theyve all found our offer very compelling, both from a financial perspective but also from wanting to be part of something that has the strong foundation of a community as we do.

Gao said that LOVBs structure, with each team operated under the league umbrella, could make it easier for players to choose the location where they wish to play, rather than PFV, where franchises will draft players like in other pro sports.

Well definitely take that into consideration, Gao said. Its one of the tellers of how we think about the best roster for each locale. That community support of seeing someone who has grown up in the community at different stages of their playing career, to be able to then represent them at the pro level is very meaningful.

Does that mean that the Madison team could have first shot at having former Badgers on its roster?

Youre going to have to stay tuned, Gao said. Hopefully, were going to be able to share a lot more exciting news very soon. Weve got a lot of talent to tap into there. Thats a big talent pool.

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Professional volleyball league picks Madison for team, and ... - Madison.com