While the 2025 NCAA season has come to an end, volleyball fans don’t need to wait until August for their next fix of the sport. In the United States, January marks the beginning of the season for not one but two professional volleyball leagues, each of which feature no shortage of familiar faces from top-tier NCAA programs.

For fans who have historically watched only NCAA volleyball, the prospect of following professional leagues can be a bit daunting due to the difference in rules between college and pro volleyball. The fact that there are two distinct leagues can also add to the complexity. But fear not—I’m here to give you the rundown as to the who, what, where, when, and how of professional volleyball in the United States.

U.S. Pro Volleyball Leagues

There are two primary pro volleyball leagues in the United States: Major League Volleyball (MLV) and League One Volleyball (LOVB, pronounced like “Love”). You may hear of a third league called Athletes Unlimited, but I personally don’t consider that to be in the same tier as MLV and LOVB, as it employs a unique format including weekly rotating rosters and an individual points-scoring system. For the purposes of this explainer, I’ll be focusing specifically on MLV and LOVB.

Major League Volleyball

The first league to launch its pro season was MLV, which operated as the Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF) at the time. The league’s inaugural 2024 season featured seven teams in Atlanta, Columbus, Grand Rapids, Las Vegas, Omaha, Orlando, and San Diego. In general, the league operates much like your typical U.S. sports league, with each team having individual owners, team names, and brand identities.

The league expanded to Indianapolis in 2025, bringing the total number of teams to eight. In both the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the top four teams in the league advanced to the playoffs, and a single-elimination tournament decided the league champions. In 2024, the Omaha Supernovas were the inaugural winners, while the Orlando Valkyries took the crown last season.

Between the last season and the upcoming season in 2026, PVF rebranded to MLV (it’s a long story). Most aspects of the league remain the same, though a notable change is that the Vegas Thrill are currently looking for new ownership and won’t be a part of the 2026 season. In the Thrill’s place is the Dallas Pulse, the league’s latest expansion team. 

MLV will kick off its upcoming season on January 8th in Atlanta, with the Atlanta Vibe hosting the Columbus Fury. The season runs through early May and will once again culminate in a single-elimination tournament featuring the league’s top four teams.

League One Volleyball

As an organization, LOVB has existed since 2020, when it was founded as a network of youth clubs. Its pro season launched in January of 2025 with six teams in Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Madison, Omaha, and Salt Lake City. This upcoming season will again feature only those six teams, but several expansion teams have been announced for the 2027 season.

LOVB has a fairly unique model compared with MLV and other American sports leagues. In the 2025 season, all six teams were owned and operated by LOVB, and each team was simply named “LOVB [City Name]” (e.g., the Omaha team was named LOVB Omaha). After the conclusion of the inaugural season, the Austin and Omaha teams were sold to new ownership teams. While the naming structure of the teams remains the same, the Omaha team rebranded to LOVB Nebraska to capture the statewide popularity of volleyball.

In the 2025 season, all six teams made the playoffs but were seeded according to their regular season final standings, with LOVB Austin winning the inaugural championship. In the 2026 season, only the top four teams will make the playoffs.

LOVB’s sophomore season launches on Wednesday, January 7th with a rematch of the 2025 finals: LOVB Nebraska vs. LOVB Austin. Each team will play the five other teams four times throughout the season, which extends through early April.

How to Watch Pro Volleyball in the United States

If you’re a bit confused by the breakdown between the two leagues, unfortunately, it only gets more complicated from here, as each league has a number of different streaming and TV partnerships.

Many MLV matches are streamed on YouTube, but several matches this season will be available via the Roku Channel, CBS Sports Network, or VICE TV. If that isn’t enough, the semifinals and finals will be streamed on ION. For full details, see MLV’s broadcast schedule announcement.

Meanwhile, LOVB’s core partnerships this season are with USA, Victory+, and ESPN. Every Wednesday match will be available on USA, while the remainder of the matches will be on Victory+, ESPN+, or ESPN2. For more information, check out LOVB’s full season schedule.

Which Pro Volleyball League Should to Follow

If you’re not a volleyball-obsessed sicko like me, you may not have the time or desire to commit to watching both LOVB and MLV this season. If you’re trying to decide which league is best for you to follow, here are a few helpful tips.

Start with location

Do you have a team in your area? If so, follow whichever league that team is part of. If you’re in Atlanta or Omaha, however, this is a bit trickier as you have two teams to follow. So, move onto the next part…

Think of your favorite players

If you’ve paid attention to recent NCAA seasons, you may have an attachment to certain teams or athletes who have since graduated and launched their pro careers. If you’re a big-time Louisville fan, for example, I recommend watching MLV, as the Indy Ignite has three former Cardinals on its roster (Anna DeBeer, Elena Scott, and Cara Cresse), while the Orlando Valkyries signed alumna Charitie Luper in the off-season.

If you’re a Nebraska homer, you likely want to root for one of the teams based in Nebraska, so it comes down to if a team with Jordan Larson and Lexi Rodriguez (LOVB Nebraska) or one with Merritt Beason and Leyla Blackwell (MLV’s Omaha Supernovas, which also features several Creighton alumni) is more appealing. But there are former Huskers on many of the pro teams, so check out the lineups to see which team strikes your fancy the most.

Consider your preferred level of volleyball

For the most part, LOVB features significantly more experienced players than MLV—the majority of the women who won a silver medal at the 2024 Olympics now play for LOVB (the remainder play overseas), and several more Olympians from other countries also feature in the league (such as Chinese gold medalist Gong Xiangyu, Brazilian silver and bronze medalist Ana Carolina da Silva, and Dutch setter Laura Dijkema). This level of talent translates to a higher level of play in LOVB, which puts it closer to the level of top-tier leagues such as those in Italy and Turkey.

Conversely, while MLV features plenty of talent of its own, a larger percentage of players signed to the league are in the first few years of their pro careers, which can affect the level of play on the court. If you tend to watch international volleyball, I recommend you watch LOVB, while if you prefer the style of play in the NCAA, MLV is the better choice for you. Rest assured that whichever league you choose to follow will still feature extremely competitive matches.