Why Women’s Volleyball Makes Great Business Sense More Than Ever…

With week zero now here largely for college football, it is another sport that if I were a Mid-Major school I would be paying more attention and committing more dollars to, along with Flag Football. For those who haven’t noticed, and its less who haven’t than ever, women’s volleyball is more than just a “thing” not. From my friend and colleague Abe Madkour’s Sunday column today.

More big event strategy came around women’s volleyball, as the inaugural “Spikes Under The Lights” was held Thursday night at AT&T Stadium, the first women’s college volleyball tournament to be held in an NFL stadium, with the court at the 50-yard line. The tournament featured the big programs — SMU, Penn State, Nebraska and Florida, and it was produced by Words + Pictures, which has ventured into event production. The event drew 40,000 at a neutral site on a Thursday night, which is not bad. The TNT-televised event was fast-paced, with best-of-three set format and then a final championship round. Each team was paid a $200,000 appearance fee and Nebraska secured $150,000 in additional prize money for emerging as champions. The $1 million purse is the largest ever in women’s college sports. Each school will determine how it distributes the money among its players.

Want more? Where are elite NBA athletes helping guide their daughters to? More than ever, per ESPN, its volleyball. Take a read.

Now this ties to an origins story I thought was a bit of an urban sports legend. Way back when Title IX came into being, the NCAA realized that each men’s sport had to have a companion women’s sport…baseball to softball etc. However football had no women’s football so volleyball was designated against it for any number of reasons, not the least of which it was a fall sport as well. The Big Ten was the first to see the value, along with what is now the Big IX, and off we went to a steady progression of growth.

• Women’s Volleyball did not suddenly arrive. Anyone who has gone to a random convention center in many cities on a weekend during the winter and early spring…in cities from Boston to Phoenix to LA to Miami…have seen the thousands of young girls and their families in massive events. The support and the funding has grown steadily, and so has the audience, well beyond the record crowds we have seen at Nebraska and Wisconsin and other places. What has been seen is an opportunity for adoption and exposure…and the Big Ten has led a great deal of it with their emphasis on broadcast and traditional media coverage well beyond campus in the past few years…has now grown into a revenue source and an opportunity to give women athletes a platform for larger success unlike we have seen for the sport before.

Another why for now? There is a market beyond college that is growing and vibrant in North America for the first time. While beach volleyball, the AVP largely, has had its fits and starts over the years, the market for making a living in traditional volleyball has not been there. Athletes who wanted to play beyond their college years had to go abroad. Now, starting with Athletes Unlimited and now with two other pro leagues in North America going forward, there are opportunities to continue a career (multiple leagues coming to play at almost the same time. Even though they will have different start times and different structures, how much will the market bear? More than one league on the pro level? Hard to see right now but let’s see how it plays out). There have been efforts to create pro leagues for both men and women away from the sand of the AVP before. All failed for various reasons…lack of promotion, wrong cities at the wrong time, lack of media time and of course, poor business models. That was then, this is now.

Also the market remains open. Take a look at the most recent NCAA attendance numbers. The room for growth is still very clear.

Another reason for vibrancy? Name Image and Likeness. The massive grassroots volleyball events has created stars in the volleyball community who have gone on to be household names with loyal followings. The sport is now both aspirational…I can be that athlete, as well as inspirational…I follow and know that athlete…really for the first time. Brands who have marketed to the grassroots community and its thousands, maybe millions, of followers now have a pipeline of activation to the college level and soon to the professional level. The data has been collected and can be used for who has followed the sport from a young age, and the elite athletes at the top of the triangle of volleyball success can now reap the benefits to the tune of thousands of dollars while in college.

How about another one. There is a fanbase that if marketed to, will actually show up, cheer and enjoy the game. This is one of those blue ocean opportunities for mid-major schools in what we can call college volleyball deserts. Is it better, or easier, to try and devote thousands, if not millions, of dollars to a non BCS football program, many of which in places like the northeast will draw maybe 1,000 people or 3,000 people on a few Saturdays, or would it be better to look at the thousands of young volleyball fans in an area who can be marketed and sold tickets to? The resources and the event marketing, to break even on women’s volleyball as a “ticketed” sport are probably much lower than all that goes into mid-level college football, so why not take a shot and own the sport with full arenas at schools that are traditionally basketball schools with a smattering of football. A Philly school, a Boston school, a DC school, a NY school, could OWN the sport in their area and draw and promote accordingly. However right now, it seems to be an also ran…but probably not for long.

So while we love to chase the shiny toy…pickleball, dancing, horse jumping etc. etc.…with no real proof of a marketplace, maybe look a little closer at a success story 50 years in the making with all the pieces already built in…brands, years of large audiences, a window that plays well to all forms of content, elite athletes, and proven success at some of the largest venues in the country with professional options coming into view (oh and it is also an Olympic sport).

Volleyball. Its getting attention, but it will be getting more, and the door is just now cracking open wider.