Two professional women’s volleyball leagues that were poised to compete with each other in the United States have decided they’re better together, merging and rebranding under a single name and logo.
The Pro Volleyball Federation started up in January 2024 with seven teams, then expanded to eight in 2025 with the addition of the Indy Ignite. Earlier this week, the PVF announced it would merge with the upstart Major League Volleyball — a league that had yet to play a match — and rebrand, keeping the MLV moniker.
This is an exciting moment for professional women’s volleyball. The unification and modernization of the business model brings in new team owners, league governance, ownership standards and an innovative approach to off-court player opportunities and fan engagement.
— MLV press release
According to Sportico, the value of the merged league is pegged at $325 million US. MLV will kick off its 2026 season in January with eight teams:
- Atlanta Vibe
- Columbus Fury
- A yet-to-be-named expansion team in Dallas
- Grand Rapids Rise
- Indy Ignite
- Omaha Supernovas
- Orlando Valkyries
- San Diego Mojo
The only PVF team that has decided not to join MLV is the Vegas Thrill.
MLV will be the longest running professional women’s volleyball league and the only one operating with independently owned teams in-market, alongside a league structure built to resemble those at the pinnacle of sports. It will build on its first two successful seasons, which saw outstanding digital engagement, with more than 80 million social impressions, nearly one million total engagements and over 250,000 social followers. In addition, attendance has reached more than 750,000 over the first two campaigns, with 45 nationally-televised matches – including an inaugural All-Star Match that drew a peak viewership of 445,000 on CBS network television.
— MLV press release
In 2027, MLV plans to add teams in Washington, D.C., and in Northern California, presumably Sacramento. The D.C. team will be owned by the controlling partners of Major League Soccer’s D.C. United, while the Northern California team will be owned by Vivek Ranadivé, a part-owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.
In January 2025, the owners of the original MLV announced they would start their new league in 2026. Investors in MLV included Ranadivé and Danny White, owner of the PVF’s Omaha Supernovas, who intended to take his team from the PVF to the new league.
According to an article in Sports Business Journal, after the MLV announcement, talks between the two leagues continued for months before really intensifying over the summer. The PVF didn’t want to lose the Omaha team, which far and away drew the biggest crowds in the league.
“The idea of losing Omaha as a market and the Supernovas as a team, that was always challenging for us,” Scott Gorsline, Grand Rapids Rise president and new MLV board member, told SBJ. “It felt like the door never officially closed.”
“We were adamant that creating a third league wasn’t ideal. We knew consolidation was needed. We thought it would take more time,” added Benjamin Priest, an initial MLV investor and governing co-owner of the Supernovas. “It was like five months of walking and then three weeks of sprinting.”
While the PVF and MLV have merged, they still have to contend with League One Volleyball, a competing league that launched in January 2025 and has six teams: Atlanta; Austin; Houston; Madison; Nebraska; and Salt Lake.
Another league, Athletes Unlimited, is complementary to the other two, as it runs a different season and a different format with players from both leagues.
