USA-Athletes Unlimited League

Quote from Meatballs

Not sure if this is a right strategy to make it locally popular either. If they had some big names or even retired stars, that could create an international popularity and eventually locals would wonder "why there is such a big fuzz about this?" and start following slowly. Now with 95% former NCAA players, I am not sure if it will be as popular among locals. Besides, once some hard core local volleyball spectators start watching this, they might be like "wow, quality is not upto expectations, why should I waste my time on this"...

I agree, they need some big name players if they want to expand the league. I find it funny that some Americans only watch NCAA and are not interested international volleyball. Do they not realize how much more entertaining and higher level it is? But if they just want to keep it in the US and only focus on local players then I won't be heavily interested. The route they're going isn't going to make the league last long.

I also don't understand the Americans who watch NCAA but don't watch international VB...

is it like the football thing where people are tribal around their schools?

Quote from avid

Eh. The USA volleyball scene isn't like that... I would guess 90% of Americans that watch volleyball, watch college only/only the Olympics. That's why we're seeing Jordan Larson and Karsta Lowe get all of the facetime.

Sheila was brought in as that international figure, but the Americans don't care. They dont know who she is. American time zones are mostly too bad for international viewing. Europeans are all asleep, matches would start at 8:00AM in Korea/Japan and even earlier in Indonesia and the Philippines. And there's no $$$ for international TV contracts because no broadcast will pick them up.

Eh, I think the quality will be fine... I mean they watch NCAA matches. The scoring gimmick may me what turns fans/viewers away.

This to me is a problem. How do you call yourself a volleyball fan if you don't care about the legendary players like Sheilla, KYK, and Zhu Ting.

Quote from avid

evidently they went live on tiktok? I dont use it so im not sure what content is there

Thanks for the link! Athletes Unlimited TikTok

Idk how to use the app as well. lol. I hate having to jump from multiple apps, but it looks like its doing much better there than on their IG/YT.

Its hard to care about legendary volleyball players when you dont see or hear about them. Maybe if the leagues or FIVB market their stars better it would be a different story. This sports is as bad as cricket when it comes to that part. So if you dont even know Paula Egonu exist...it's kind of unfair to question someones fandom if they chose to watch Lexi Sun and Nebraska on TV instead, don't yah think?

Anyway i think AU can only mean good thing for volleyball. The funding is there. They're using every medium available to get some attention. And they seem to really care about women in sports. That's a win. I know it's not perfect but it's a great place to start.

Quote from bumpsetspike

I agree, they need some big name players if they want to expand the league. I find it funny that some Americans only watch NCAA and are not interested international volleyball. Do they not realize how much more entertaining and higher level it is? But if they just want to keep it in the US and only focus on local players then I won't be heavily interested. The route they're going isn't going to make the league last long.

Quote from avid

It's different here... The US has never had a sustainable pro league... so the highest level is the NCAA (and the Olympics)

Like they'd feel the same way for you not knowing the best of the NCAA (granted you probably do because they all went pro) but thats besides that point

I am going to be the get of my lawn guy.

As we have seen in under the last president, Americans have no understanding of global issues. Many American sports like baseball, basketball and hockey are considered to be the highest level in the sport. Trying to bring international stars to a brand new league is not a good idea. They are going to make more money playing overseas in Italy, Turkey, China, Japan, etc.

Volleyball in this country is a popular playing sport, but many parents only go, "Olympics are on is the USA playing?" Then we'll watch. So every four years, volleyball does well. However, in high schools and younger club volleyball is very big. However, matches from Europe's league are also on weekends, so kids playing club have no understanding of any level of professional volleyball anywhere in the world. Also the national team plays few matches domestically in non-Olympic years, and hence why I yell at people to say the VNL/World League/World Grand Prix is important! If volleyball is relevant every two or four years, then the sport needs an annual event.

VNL for the USA should be in LA or Chicago area because fan base is already there and great crowd interaction. Let alone get entertainment stars in the front row. Japanese TV does in for the events in Japan with the music. Omaha/Lincoln are great volleyball venues, but getting there is a pain.

Getting back to the high school kids, many coaches have no understanding of the sport outside of their team and domestic realm. I was crazy in my coaching and showing them the Brazil's, Japan and USA teams from the 2010 World Championships. Showing them high level play to demonstrate what can be done.

NCAA for many women's sports in this country is considered to be for many as far as they can go. Even many college coaches do not have many international connections other than players under them or those who have graduated. Courtney Thompson was a good player at a good school and had no idea that she could play professionally. Kim Hill went to a USA team tryout on a whim and became a World Champion MVP.

We are oblivious over here sometimes to our own detriment.

Nebraska team is that famous? In the US, maybe.

Quote from Sillynameplus567

Its hard to care about legendary volleyball players when you dont see or hear about them. Maybe if the leagues or FIVB market their stars better it would be a different story. This sports is as bad as cricket when it comes to that part. So if you dont even know Paula Egonu exist...it's kind of unfair to question someones fandom if they chose to watch Lexi Sun and Nebraska on TV instead, don't yah think?

Anyway i think AU can only mean good thing for volleyball. The funding is there. They're using every medium available to get some attention. And they seem to really care about women in sports. That's a win. I know it's not perfect but it's a great place to start.

My thing was that in her interview Sheilla said that she was interested in helping the AU league grow and wanted to share her experience with future generations of volleyball. I just think that for some Americans fans to waive her off and not care for her is really unfortunate because she wants the best for this league. Maybe Sheilla doesn't care if they don't know her, but it would make her and other international players want to stay for another season if the fans do show some support for them rather than show no interest.

Quote from avid

Go to their twitter, they have updates there. The first captains were Aury Cruz, Molly McCage, Taylor Morgan, and Erica Handley

The next captains for tomorrows scrimmage are Willow Johnson, Erica Wilson, Tiffany Clark, and Aury Cruz.

Aury must be killing it to be captain twice in a row,

Quote from avid

It's not on TV.. its not easily accessible to stream. All TV matches are geoblocked, streaming services can be geoblocked

f***ing thanks, FIVB. stopped streaming matches after 2017 GCC

Quote from Sillynameplus567

Paula Egonu

Is that the italian middle blocker? /s