The Bay Area’s volleyball scene is expanding to the professional level.
League One Volleyball (LOVB) announced Thursday morning that an expansion team would be coming to San Francisco for the 2027 season.
The woman-led investment group behind the team features many names familiar to Bay Area sports fans, including Bay FC co-founders Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne and Danielle Slaton. Former U.S. women’s soccer star Abby Wambach and her wife, best-selling author Glennon Doyle, are also among the co-owners. Jes Wolfe, the CEO of women’s empowerment brand Rebel Girls, is the chairwoman for the club, which is known as LOVB San Francisco.
“The Bay Area has become a beacon for women’s sports — a place where investment, innovation, and community come together to create real impact,” Wolfe said in a statement.
“These leaders have broken barriers in boardrooms, on the court, and across culture,” LOVB Pro president Rosie Spaulding said of the club’s ownership. “Their commitment to LOVB San Francisco reflects our mission to build a new model for women’s sports – one powered by community, opportunity, and a pipeline that elevates athletes from their very first serve to the pro stage.”
The announcement means a fourth consecutive year an expansion women’s sports team will debut in the Bay Area, after Bay FC launched in 2023 and the Golden State Valkyries in 2024. The Women’s Pro Baseball League will have a team representing San Francisco in its inaugural 2026 season, though the first season will have all teams based in Springfield, Illinois.
LOVB, which was founded in 2020, is a multi-tier program that stretches to the youth level. The group already has connections to the Bay Area via youth clubs such as Red Rock, Kai Beach Volleyball and Mavericks Beach Volleyball.
The league touted the Bay Area’s existing volleyball culture at the collegiate level, citing Stanford’s nine national championships. The sport has increased in popularity in recent years at the collegiate and youth levels, setting a new high of 492,799 high school players nationwide in 2024-25, second only to outdoor track and field, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Beyond the Bay Area’s team owners, the league received Series A investment in 2022 from sports figures Billie Jean King and Kevin Durant, as well as Series B funding from Lindsey Vonn, Jayson Tatum and Candace Parker.
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The league played a 14-week season in 2025 and players made a minimum of $60,000.
LOVB is not the only women’s pro volleyball league operating in the U.S.: Major League Volleyball and Athletes Unlimited also play at the professional level. MLV announced a 2027 expansion team in Northern California this month but did not specify a home venue. Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé and U.S. Olympic star Kerri Walsh Jennings are among the founders of that club.
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