Professional women’s volleyball is coming to Minnesota.
League One Volleyball Pro (LOVB), one of three pro leagues in the United States, announced Friday it will expand to Minnesota for the 2027 season.
Lots of details remain to be worked out, like where LOVB Minnesota Volleyball will play, who will coach and who will fill out the roster. Minnesota natives Jordan Thompson (Edina) and Tori Dixon (Burnsville) and University of Minnesota product Alexis Hart already play in the league, which launched last January with six franchises.
“Minnesota is one of the great homes of volleyball, with a passionate fan base and an incredible depth of talent across the state,” LOVB Pro president Rosie Spaulding said in a statement released by the league. “Bringing a professional team here is about celebrating that passion and building a clear, tangible path for the next generation.”
In an interview with MinnPost, Spaulding said the league looked hard at Minnesota when selecting the original franchise sites. It ultimately chose Omaha, Nebraska, and Madison, Wisconsin, in the Midwest, along with Houston, Atlanta, Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City. Los Angeles was previously announced as a 2027 expansion franchise, and Spaulding hinted there may be one or two more.
“We always knew, as we’re showing now, that Minnesota was an important market for us for a number of reasons,” Spaulding said. “We know the high school and college scene is huge, the club scene is huge, and it’s just such a passionate volleyball market.”
No doubt. As a state, Minnesota ranks ninth nationally in girls’ high school volleyball participation with more than 15,000 athletes, according to the latest survey by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Nationwide, volleyball continues to grow; more girls play high school volleyball (492,799) than any other sport except outdoor track and field (513,808).
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The University of Minnesota, with six NCAA Division I Final Four appearances and nine-time Division II national champion Concordia-St. Paul boast sustained volleyball success. And St. Thomas won a Division III NCAA title in 2012 before moving up to D1. The Gophers regularly draw crowds of around 5,000 at Maturi Pavilion and ranked fifth nationally in attendance last season.
“What a wise and thrilling decision by LOVB leadership,” Gophers Coach Keegan Cook said in a statement released by the league. “Minnesota is not only a thriving professional sports state but a passionate and committed volleyball community. We cannot wait to welcome LOVB to the Twin Cities.”
Post-collegians with pro and/or Olympic ambitions generally play professionally overseas, and LOVB sought to offer a domestic alternative. It’s competing for players with Major League Volleyball, which begins its third season in January with eight teams (none in Minnesota), and Athletes Unlimited, which brings 44 athletes to hubs in Madison and Omaha for four weeks in the fall. LOVB’s season runs January through April.
LOVB (pronounced “love”; the B is silent) actually formed in 2020, with a unique business model. It created a network of youth clubs in 11 cities across the country, with the hope of generating enough support and buzz to eventually form a pro league. Billie Jean King, NBA great Kevin Durant, world champion skier Lindsey Vonn and former University of Minnesota standout Lindsey Berg were among the early investors. Now about 23,000 youth club athletes in 28 states come under the LOVB umbrella.
In Minnesota, LOVB partnered with Minnesota One (commonly known as M1) and Kokomo Volleyball, two of the leading clubs in the Twin Cities. The fledgling pro league timed its launch to piggyback on the 2024 Paris Olympics, with 10 Olympic medalists signing up as founding athletes. Matches can be seen on ESPN and the USA Network.
“Our long-term goal is to make volleyball a major league sport, and to really grow the game in this country, and bring volleyball up there so it’s recognized and culturally relevant alongside some of the other larger sports that are there today,” Spaulding said.
Some franchises are owned by the league, and some by investors; Spaulding said the goal is to find local owners for each team, including LOVB Minnesota. (Teams don’t have nicknames, mirroring the first season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.)
Teams generally play in medium-sized venues, with capacities between 3,000 and 8,000 optimal. Spaulding wouldn’t say which Minnesota arenas are under consideration, but the Maturi Pavilion and the new Anderson Arena at St. Thomas fall into that range.
The league plans to hire a local support and business staff in the coming months, Spaulding said.
