This is a Love story.
Are the Omaha Supernovas and LOVB Omaha enemies? No. Can they coexist for several years? Probably not. But we are lucky to have them both. Both have exceptional leadership: Diane Mendenhall for the Supernovas and Kirsten Booth for LOVB Omaha.
Both have high-profile volleyball personalities to help market their product: Jordan Larson for LOVB and John Cook for the Supernovas.
Starting a new league is messy in any sport. It is not unusual for the original players not to be around in year two or three. It’s kind of like building a golf course. The original owner is often long gone by the time a golf club starts generating revenue. (Let’s not forget original Supernova Head Coach Shelton Collier recruited the brilliant Brooke Nunneviller and designated her energy as the franchise’s brand.)
LOVB announced it would begin a league several years before it got to the starting line. That gave the PVF (now Major League Volleyball) an opportunity, although the initial PVF league founder is long gone.
MLB came about because the Supernova ownership was frustrated that the other PVF teams were not providing the infrastructure, marketing, and support that the Omaha franchise was. (This was almost to be expected if one looks at the college volleyball landscape. No geography provides the support that Nebraska does.)
The Supernovas announced early in the 2024 season that they would be starting a new league, and they had already attracted a significant potential owner. The alleged reason for announcing this during the season was to attract other investors and potential franchises. (I am speculating here, but it is the only thing that makes sense, and even that doesn’t make sense.
No one signed up. In the meantime, the rest of the PVF saw this as an act of betrayal and swore they would never have anything to do with volleyball banked on the Missouri River. It seemed that this rift was irreparable.
While MLB was having a less-than-enthusiastic bake sale, the PVF discovered that Omaha was a critical ingredient to promoting any professional volleyball league in this universe. In the meantime, LOVB talked about moving to a local ownership model and appears to have done so in the Austin and Omaha franchises. Players still appear to be assigned by the primary owner of the other franchises. (I think roller derby did this and had some success, but long-term, it is not a workable model.) LOVB earns a gold star for placing Lexi Rodriguez and Justine Wong-Orantes on separate teams this season, allowing LOVB Omaha’s most marketable player to be on the court. Fans thought it was criminal that Lexi Rodriguez, the Sullivan Award winner for the best amateur athlete in America, wasn’t playing for LOVB Omaha.
Kirsten Booth has announced that LOVB will be the state of Nebraska’s professional team, which may signal that LOVB will play matches in other Nebraska cities. That would be brilliant because LOVB does not have access to the CHI center, which is the answer to that question that every realtor tells us when we are looking to buy a bigger home: location, location, location.
This would be my dream franchise: Diane Mendenhall is the President. Kirsten Booth is the head coach. The franchise plays most of the matches in the CHI Center, but considers an occasional match at the Pinnacle Bank Arena and at least one match in central Nebraska. At the match in Central Nebraska, John Cook rides onto the court with his horse named “Bud” while the band plays “Wildfire.” Coach Cook waves his cowboy hat to the crowd, and Jordan Larson rides onto the court in a Harley and tosses Atomic Fireballs to kids as she speeds past the standing room only fans. The franchise recruits a world-class trainer for the setting position (Fiona Nepo or Christy Johnson) to work with Kendra Wait, who is being prepared as the heir apparent to Sydney Hilley. Rebekkah Allick and Ava Martin are the top two draft choices.
How’s that for “Dreaming Big?”
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