Images from the stadium in the summer of last year University of Nebraska at Lincoln: in total 92,003 fans They gathered to see a match volleyball female university between local team and neighbor Omaha.
Participation surpassed the world record for women in any sport. Created by FC Barcelona inside Camp NouHe has 91,648 followers Barça-Wolfsburg between Champions of 2022. It was surprising that the masses gathered to watch the volleyball match. Why wasn’t it American football that ruined everything in terms of record breaking? Or is it baseball? Or is it football?
The thing is, something powerful is happening volleyball inside United States of AmericaBeyond the quirks of the match being played in an American football stadium (not a pavilion) and there was a lot of planning involved in achieving this record. For the skeptics: all tickets are paid.
Men’s volleyball has grown in the United States, but women’s volleyball takes the cake and is currently the most played team sport at the high school level. The girls’ varsity final could concentrate up to a million viewers on ESPN, the quintessential US sports channel. “There are very few sports where the women’s category has more weight than the men’s category. This is also the case with volleyball. I like it more,” he comments. University of Idaho Chiara Gennari19-year-old Catalan player who has the American experience Volleyball Club Sant Cugat.
emigrate to Europe
But players have always found a wall blocking their progress. The American team consisting of university students became champions at the Tokyo Olympic Games (2021). Bronze in Rio de Janeiro (2016). Silver in London (2012) and Beijing (2008). I mean, they were always so good. However, when their student years ended, if they wanted to continue playing football at a professional level, they had to migrate to Europe, to more or less strong leagues such as Turkey, Germany, Italy and even Russia.
“It’s like Michael Jordan and the Dream Team realizing there’s no NBA to come back to after winning Olympic gold,” said CEO and founder Katlyn Gao. Volleyball First League.
It is the name of the professional league established in 2024. There are two more. Another appeared three years ago with a very strange, almost experimental model. Unlimited AthletesAnd Professional Volleyball Federation (PVF)which premiered at the end of January with more ambition than the other two. Suddenly there were three leagues. And with a matching calendar.
The Pro Volleyball Federation starts with seven franchises, each owned by an investment fund with tentacles in other professional sports. Three more will be added in 2025. More than 11,000 fans witnessed the opening game between the Omaha team and the Atlanta team.
The main thing: they signed a television deal with the public network GIS for the broadcast of a dozen meetings. Maximum explanation. “For European players this new landscape is great, for North American players it is a dream,” he explains from Ohio. Maria Schlegel30-year-old Spanish volleyball player, Columbus Rage.
to be able to live this
Schlegel has played in Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany and now the USA, so he knows his sport and its characteristics well. She was previously an athletics professional in the high jump.
This confirms the interest that volleyball has aroused in the USA. “Depending on the state, there is more or less volleyball culture. In Nebraska, where the attendance record was broken, there are many. We will see what the situation will be like in the remaining states. But it already works, and I’m lucky to be able to experience it,” says Schlegel. tiktok Revealing details of his experiences in the sport in front of a hugely impressive following (approximately 150,000).
Currently, the average salary for a player in the league where Schlegel plays is $60,000 per season, and there are two players on each team who can reach $100,000. Before taxes. The Asturian observes that it is clear that the competition is still ongoing, with the calendar of the pavilions in some cities difficult to combine. But it emphasizes the commercial power of competition. “There are investment funds behind every team, there are celebrities such as singers and athletes, there are sponsors… They get money from all sides. This is a business,” he says.
These new leagues have changed the perspective of players who are nearing the end of their college education and want to continue competing. “A lot of my teammates told me they were going to stop playing because they didn’t want to leave the United States. They had to do it. Now that the possibilities are opening up, a lot of them are playing with the mentality that there’s something beyond that,” he says. Chiara Gennari. It is not yet clear whether these projects will be consolidated.