Professional volleyball will have two competing leagues on linear television in 2025.
On Tuesday, League One Volleyball (LOVB) revealed broadcast plans for its inaugural 60-game season in 2025. The announcement comes soon after the Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF) announced its media rights extension and broadcast plans with CBS for next year’s upcoming season.
As was announced back in May, ESPN will be LOVB’s linear broadcast partner. For the regular season, two matches will air on ESPN2, five matches will air on ESPNU, and 16 matches will be streamed on ESPN+. The LOVB Finals will also air on ESPN2 from April 10-13.
LOVB has also struck a deal with sports streaming service DAZN which will air 16 matches globally, including in regions where volleyball is a top television sport.
In addition to ESPN and DAZN, LOVB will stream 16 matches on the Women’s Sports Network (WSN), a free ad-supported television (FAST) channel dedicated to women’s athletics.
For hardcore fans, all 60 matches will be streamed on the league’s in-house platform LOVB LIVE, where viewers can customize their experience by accessing multiple camera angles, selecting which stats to overlay, and using custom replay actions.
All four matches of LOVB’s opening week will stream live on ESPN+ on January 8-10. The league will get its first linear exposure for a match between Madison (WI) and Salt Lake (UT) on January 17th on ESPNU.
The new league is certainly taking a diversified approach to its distribution, attempting to reach fans where they are through several different partners. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s enough appetite from viewers to sustain two professional volleyball leagues in the United States. Exposure on the ESPN family of networks will surely help.
[LOVB PR]
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.