{"id":159176,"date":"2026-02-01T14:51:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T14:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/159176\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T14:51:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T14:51:43","slug":"a-new-pro-volleyball-team-wants-in-on-san-franciscos-womens-sports-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/159176\/","title":{"rendered":"A new pro volleyball team wants in on San Francisco\u2019s women\u2019s sports boom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kelsey Robinson Cook is one of the most decorated American volleyball players of all time. An icon of the sport \u2014 a standout. Yet in her everyday life, she\u2019s used to blending in.<\/p>\n

That all changed the moment she stepped inside Rikki\u2019s, a women\u2019s sports bar in the Castro, where volleyball fans instantly recognized the three-time Olympic medalist.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that enthusiastic, deep-rooted, and still-under-cover local passion for the sport that led League One Volleyball (LOVB) to bet on San Francisco. A new professional women\u2019s sports franchise, LOVB SF is following Bay FC and the Golden State Valkyries into the market in January 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the bold ambition to be the Bay Area\u2019s next great sports team,\u201d newly appointed team president Stephanie Martin told The Standard.<\/p>\n

After witnessing a Bay Area-based NWSL team and WNBA franchise launch in back-to-back years to record attendance numbers and instant cultural relevance, big aspirations are the norm amid a local women\u2019s sports boom.<\/p>\n

With roughly a year to go before LOVB SF takes the court<\/a>, Martin, who also joined the team\u2019s women-led ownership group, will spearhead the buildout of the franchise. With 15-plus years working in the local sports scene, Martin led marketing efforts for the 2013 America\u2019s Cup and Super Bowl 50 and joined the LOVB executive team in 2023 before moving into her role with the San Francisco franchise in January.<\/p>\n

Bay FC and the Valkyries set a lofty precedent, but they also offer a credible blueprint for Martin\u2019s team to follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of those organizations really understood that you want to be a part of the community first. You want to listen and engage with the community early,\u201d said Martin, who is already planning a team-naming contest and a mascot-creation competition to engage local fans.<\/p>\n

1 day ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

4 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday, Jan. 23<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Martin has sought advice from Valkyries president Jess Smith and Bay FC\u2019s Founding Four (Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton, and Aly Wagner are all members of LOVB\u2019s ownership group), who all knew the market was underserved.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been such a demand for women\u2019s sports here for so long that this fanbase is unparalleled,\u201d Martin said. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible to see it skyrocket.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As LOVB SF\u2019s ownership group sees it, the case for professional volleyball in San Francisco has already been written \u2014 just as it was for soccer and basketball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bay Area has one of the strongest volleyball cultures in the country, anchored by Stanford\u2019s dynasty (10 NCAA championships) and bolstered by successful programs at Saint Mary\u2019s, the University of San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Cal. Youth volleyball clubs dot every corner of the region and adult recreational leagues fill courts across the city. By LOVB SF\u2019s estimate, around 300,000 people play adult recreational volleyball in the Bay Area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AStephanie Martin was appointed LOVB SF\u2019s team president in January. | Source: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades\/The Standard<\/p>\n

The team could host games anywhere, but LOVB SF is committed to playing matches inside San Francisco city limits.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Francisco is a place where volleyball has a really robust community already,\u201d Martin said. \u201cIt\u2019s a community that already cares about volleyball, understands it, understands the values of what it stands for.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team is scouting venues, targeting an arena that can hold 3,000 fans with the hope of growing into a larger, permanent home over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go to a Valkyries game and it\u2019s the best time you could have. Bay FC games, same thing. It\u2019s inviting, welcoming, and it\u2019s a party. Those are the experiences we want to create,\u201d Martin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As easy as Bay FC and the Valkyries might have made it look, launching a franchise and building a fan base is daunting. For Martin\u2019s crew, it\u2019ll be soup to nuts each day until the first match in 11 months. And for LOVB SF, there\u2019s an added challenge.<\/p>\n

If the NWSL and WNBA are young, 12 and 29 years old, respectively, then LOVB is a newborn. Only in its second season, LOVB doesn\u2019t have an established fanbase. It does, however, have a media rights package that places matches on ESPN and USA Network and a content hub within Victory+, a streaming service that also airs NWSL games.<\/p>\n

Without stars with household names \u2014 an element that has propelled both the WNBA and NWSL to massive recent growth \u2014 Martin and the ownership group know the lack of awareness around players represents LOVB SF\u2019s biggest hurdle. That\u2019s why they\u2019re hosting weekly LOVB watch parties at Rikki\u2019s and eager to connect future players with local youth clubs.<\/p>\n

Martin is also confident that once people experience the action live, selling the product will be easy. Volleyball, she says, is uniquely electric because it\u2019s fast-paced, highlight-heavy, and dramatic. Olympic viewership backs that up, too, as volleyball consistently ranks among the most-watched events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To thrive in San Francisco and beyond, LOVB also must outpace its competitors as it\u2019s one of three pro domestic volleyball leagues, in addition to the Pro Volleyball Federation and Athletes Unlimited. LOVB views its club-to-pro model as a differentiating quality that can make the league sustainable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several players came up through LOVB-affiliated clubs, training in the same gyms where they now compete at the highest level. The organization also works with high school athletes and their families to demystify recruiting, NIL deals, and career pathways in the sport, all to make volleyball feel less like a dead end and more like a viable profession.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That philosophy carries into how LOVB compensates players, who earn base salaries of $60,000, receive year-round healthcare, and live in housing provided by the league during the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that gets me fired up is being part of a team that\u2019s owned by women who have done it in their spaces \u2026 it\u2019s going to create an environment that athletes want to play in, be a part of, and feel loyal to \u2014 to start and end their careers in San Francisco,\u201d Robinson Cook, who played pro volleyball abroad for more than 12 years and is part of LOVB SF\u2019s ownership group, said.<\/p>\n

If LOVB SF succeeds, the next generation of local volleyball stars will be able to spend their entire careers in the United States. And it won\u2019t just be Rikki\u2019s where the top players are treated like celebrities.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105,127,2468],"class_list":{"0":"post-159176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-san-francisco","9":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","10":"tag-san-francisco-news","11":"tag-sf","12":"tag-sf-headlines","13":"tag-sf-news","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-volleyball"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}