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LOVB Pro
LOVB Pro (pronounced "love" and commonly referred to as League One Volleyball) is an American women's professional indoor volleyball league. The league is owned by League One Volleyball (LOVB), a volleyball body founded in 2020. Its first season will begin in January 2025. HistoryLeague 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 August 2024[update], LOVB's youth business includes 60 club locations in 24 states, with over 14,000 youth athletes and 3,000 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] Inaugural seasonOn 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+ for the 2025 season.[10] Team venues and schedules for the 2025 season were announced on July 18.[11] The 2025 season will feature four matches per week; a single head-to-head match and a homestand-style "Weekend with LOVB", where one team will host two others for three total matches. An in-season tournament, the LOVB Classic, will be held alongside the Triple Crown NIT youth invitational in February in Kansas City, Missouri, with the finals held in April.[11] TeamsLOVB teams do not have traditional team names, and instead compete as "LOVB" followed by the city name.
Sponsorship and fundingOn September 28, 2022, LOVB raised $16.75 million in a Series A funding round, headlined by Billie Jean King and Kevin Durant.[12] A year later, LOVB raised $35 million in a Series B round that included investments from Lindsey Vonn, Jayson Tatum, and Candace Parker.[13] On June 17, 2024, LOVB and Adidas signed an apparel partnership that would make Adidas the uniform supplier of LOVB Pro.[14] 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.[15] See also
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