Another niche league in danger (again)

[kenntomasch]

The original thread on this, the last time they were justthisclose to closing shop, got lost in The Hack, but anyway....

US Pro Volleyball Plans on Hold (http://www.jsonline.com/sports/etc/jan03/108654.asp) (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Force is still with us -- but just barely (http://www.mlive.com/sports/grpress/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/sports-0/1041954343279500.xml) (Grand Rapids Press)

[Northside Rovers]

Comparing pro volleyball to MLS is like comparing MLS to the NFL or NBA.

Isn't it?

[kenntomasch]

I wasn't aware I was making a comparison.

[FlashMan]

Originally posted by kenntomasch
I wasn't aware I was making a comparison.

You just weren't paying attention.

[Northside Rovers]

You weren't. I was.

If MLS is a "n-i-c-h-e" sport, pro volleyball is a "n-i" or "n" sport. You would basically have to be delirious to invest in that league I think.

[CrewToon]

I didn't even know there was a league.

[kenntomasch]

Originally posted by Northside Rovers
You weren't. I was.

If MLS is a "n-i-c-h-e" sport, pro volleyball is a "n-i" or "n" sport. You would basically have to be delirious to invest in that league I think.

Well, they were a league who until recently said "ni!" ;)

Well, as long as you weren't investing much. I'm sure they had some decent ideas of cost containment (I'm sure they weren't paying players much, and they bussed everywhere), but it seemed to me like they had about 7 Vice-Presidents at the home office here in suburban Chicago. The guy who started it said he spent years developing it, and it seems like he didn't do a particularly good job.

But anytime a league, no matter how niche-y, goes under, it's bad for everybody outside Tier I in many respects. It's good in that Darwinism is a good thing, but it screws up the climate for a lot of other things.

[SJJ]

The USPV's official release: http://66.162.217.18/news_detail.php?article_id=241

The front office, if you want to count the number of VP's: http://66.162.217.18/frontoffice.php

I had first noticed that the four expansion teams weren't at all mentioned on the site. Then I saw the original four teams had a schedule, so I was moderately optimistic. Now this seems out.

Their angle was billing it as the fist US pro women's league that didn't have an equivalent men's league. So this was going to be the best in US volleyball. Probably didn't work out.

What they didn't mention is that this would be the THIRD women's sports league (after Wnba, Wusa), and maybe the FOURTH if you count the Usl W-League. Or FIFTH if you count the Wpba. Or SIXTH if you count women's college basketball, or the SEVENTH if you count women's college volleyball (which has been getting some good press lately), or EIGHT if you count women's tennis, or NINTH...

There may not be enough room for all those women's sports leauges. Some wonder why there never was a push for a women's hockey leauge. Would YOU want to start one?

[kenntomasch]

Move Minnesota.

Anti-volleyball bias.

Disney does absolutely nothing for volleyball in this country.

If they'd promote the games more, people would watch them.