GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — With games set to start in just six months, owners and staff from the Pro Volleyball Federation met in Grand Rapids on Tuesday for their first ever owners meeting.
Three time Olympian and current owner of the San Diego team, Kerri Walsh Jennings spoke about the importance of growing volleyball on a professional level in America.
"To have more competitive choices to play in, it's going to elevate opportunities over seas. It's certainly going to elevate women's volleyball here (in the U.S.) and it's time for the USA to have a premiere volleyball team here," said Walsh Jennings.
There have been other pro leagues for volleyball in the U.S. in the past but this league is setting out to create a competitive group of teams across the entire country.
"The athletes coming out of college are hungry, they deserve a good place to play. And the athletes who are going overseas for three, four, eight years are going to come home and they're going to be celebrated. And they don't have to leave their families for nine months out of the year," said Walsh Jennings.
The priority of the meetings today were to finalize the brand for the league. They also had discussions about TV deals and wanting to have three nationally televised games each week.
The Grand Rapids Rise is set to start their season in January 2024.
