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3 Reasons the Pro Volleyball Federation Should Consider Adding a Team in Denver
- Ryver Griffin
- Feb 5, 2023
- 5 min read
Denver, CO – For those who don’t know, the Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF) is a start-up professional volleyball league that was launched late last year. Spend 30 seconds on their website, and you’re likely to read the word “Real” 20+ times. This is because they are aiming to have a league of legitimacy. A league reminiscent of other professional sports leagues we’re all familiar with. The league promises to have a legitimate format, with proper ownership, playing in professional-quality arenas. Most importantly, though, the players will make a living wage.
With all the buzz surrounding the league, the high-profile league investors, and the numerous, very talented players who have already committed to joining the league, I am very excited for play to start.
As of today, February 5th, 2023, the Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF) has announced one host city for the inaugural 2024 season, Grand Rapids, MI. The goal is to have 8+ teams for the first season, and with just the one being announced so far, there’s still reason for hope for many cities to get a team. As a huge fan of the concept of this league and a proud Denverite, I can’t go a day without looking at the PVF website in hopes that a team is announced here.
Why should the PVF prefer Denver as one of the cities though? Would there be any reason for the PVF to add a team to a city that usually gets ignored when new leagues start? My answer: ABSOLUTELY. Here are the 3 main reasons why.
Colorado Loves Volleyball
This may come as a surprise to those who haven’t spent much time in Colorado, but volleyball is very much a beloved sport here. Next time you’re in Denver in the summer, visit any large parks in the city and you’re bound to see countless people out playing volleyball, especially at Wash Park. Any given summer day, and there can be thousands of people playing.
(Photo Credit KDVR.com)
Beyond just playing volleyball, Colorado enjoys watching volleyball too. In the 2021 NCAA season, both Colorado State University and the University of Colorado ranked inside the top 40 nationally for season attendance, with CSU ranking all the way at 13 (NCAA, 2021).
To compare this to football attendance numbers for the most recent data I could find (2019), those same schools ranked 76th and 51st respectively (CollegeFootballNews.com, 2019). Additionally, Colorado had three D2 schools rank inside the top 40 nationally for attendance (NCAA, 2021). With so many schools across the nation, it is very impressive that so many schools in Colorado were represented that high. It shows the commitment the state has to the sport.
Colorado Is Made Up of Transplants
Colorado is a very unique state, in that over 50% of the population is not originally from the state (Roberts, 2019). If you live in Colorado, this will come as no surprise. But why should that influence the PVF’s decision to add Denver to their league?
People want a team to cheer for, plain and simple.
I was born in Northern Colorado, but I moved to Western Illinois when I was 9 years old and attended college in Wisconsin. Despite being a die-hard fan for all the Denver sports teams, I wanted a local team to root for everywhere I went. Choosing a team wasn’t always cut and dry though. Some of the local teams may have had a rivalry with a team I already cheered for, so I couldn’t root for them. Or another team may be so pathetic that it wasn’t any fun to cheer for.
As I talk to so many transplants here in Denver, I’ve heard the same sentiment. People want to pick up a Denver team to like, but there’s reasons not to choose any of the current teams. The Broncos have a long history of success; therefore, they aren’t the most likeable team in the NFL outside of Broncos Country. The Nuggets and Avalanche are both really good right now, but to fans of other good teams, the Nuggs and Avs possess enough of a threat that people don’t always want to start cheering for them either. Then there’s the Rockies (sigh). With the PVF being an entirely new league, nobody has any allegiances yet, or history to keep them from cheering for another team.
Attending games in Denver can be a bit frustrating at times because there are always a lot of opposing fans who have since moved to Denver. Adding a team in the PVF may finally break this trend. It would be a team that the entire city could unite behind.
Denver Shows Up for Their Pro Sports Teams
There are currently 6 professional sports teams in Denver (Avalanche, Broncos, Mammoth, Nuggets, Rapids, and Rockies). Among those teams, 4 of them rank(ed) top 10 in average attendance in their most recent/current league year. The Avalanche are one of the teams that ranks outside the top 10; they come in at #11. The remaining team is the Colorado Rapids. They, unfortunately, come in at #27.
While correlation doesn’t mean causation, I will point out that the Rapids are the only one of those teams that doesn’t play downtown. In fact, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park is in Commerce City, which isn’t very easy to get to for most of Denver. Given that the arenas large enough to host a professional volleyball club are downtown or close to downtown and rail lines, I’d expect a PVF team to have attendance numbers that more closely resemble the other professional teams in Denver.
Obviously, there are so many other factors worth consideration from a start-up sports league. I’m sure those at the PVF headquarters have been scouring through spreadsheets and doing an incredible amount of market research to determine the most profitable cities to include in the inaugural season. While I don’t have access to this data or the time to do that kind of research myself, I do genuinely believe that Denver has the good bones to be a great pro volleyball city. New cities will be announced soon, and I am dreaming that Denver will be included. Until they are or aren’t, I will continue to be hopeful.
By Ryver Griffin
References
CollegeFootballNews.com. (2019, July 23). Attendance Rankings No. 1-130: 2019 CFN Five-
Year Program Analysis. Retrieved from College Football News:
no-1-130-2019-cfn-five-year-program-analysis
ESPN. (2022). MLB Attendance Report - 2022.
ESPN. (2022). NFL Attendance - 2022.
ESPN. (2023). NBA Attendance Report - 2023.
Gough, C. (2022, July 13). National Hockey League average regular season home
attendance by team 2021/22 season. Retrieved from Statista:
national-hockey-league-teams-in-2010/
NCAA. (2021). Women's Volleyball Attendance Records.
PointStreak. (2020). League Attendance.
Roberts, M. (2019, November 1). Here's Where All Those Colorado Transplants Are Coming
From. Retrieved from Westword: https://www.westword.com/news/colorado-
transplants-and-their-original-states-2019-update-11362900
Soccer Stadium Digest. (2022, October 11). 2022 MLS Attendance. Retrieved from Soccer
Stadium Digest: https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2022-mls-attendance/
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