With the clock rapidly ticking down to its January 24 debut, the Pro Volleyball Federation appears to be still working out TV and streaming details.

The startup league had announced a national-TV deal with CBS Sports, but the schedule posted online by CBS Sports Network, which was indicated as the likely first-season home for the PVF, shows no volleyball matches on Wednesday night, January 24, when the Omaha Supernovas play host to the Atlanta Vibe; on Thursday the 25th (Columbus Fury at Grand Rapids Rise); or Friday the 25th (Vibe at Orlando Valkyries).

College basketball games fill the prime-time slate for CBSSN on that Wednesday and Thursday, and that Friday has college hoops and collegiate hockey.

The league’s streaming situation also is muddled, but might be headed in a highly positive direction for volleyball fans. On Thursday morning, the Stadium streaming sports network posted listings for the Vibe-Supernovas and Fury-Rise matches on its schedule. But by Thursday night, the PVF matches had been removed.

VolleyballMag has made multiple requests to the PVF for clarity and received this response through email on Friday afternoon from vice president of public & media relations Rob Carolla: “I am unable to confirm anything at this time, but the League hopes to have an announcement in the coming days.”

Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf bought Stadium from the Sinclair Broadcast Group in May after Sinclair dropped it from its over-the-air channels. Stadium operates out of studios at the United Center in Chicago, offering primarily “talk” programming with a few live sports events.

Stadium is a free channel that can be found on many of the no-cost streaming multicast services found on smart TVs, including Tubi, Freevee, The Roku Channel and FuboTV, making it easily accessible to PVF fans nationwide. Stadium also can be seen through its app and on its website (https://watchstadium.com/).

The listings for the matches on January 24 and 25 have been taken down, but it seems a pretty safe bet that Stadium could wind up working with the PVF. A high likelihood exists that the channel simply might have jumped the gun with its initial posting. Would it have listed those matches without cause?

Stadium would be an excellent partner for a new league because of its widespread availability and a limited menu of live sports events that would conflict with PVF matches. And it’s free. The only potential downside is that the platform does not archive its shows on its website, so fans would have to catch the live telecasts.

Rise, Supernovas land local media deals

Two PVF franchises have made serious inroads in building exposure in their markets. Fans in Las Vegas should be thrilled to learn they can watch their team on local TV. Meanwhile, the volleyball-crazy state of Nebraska can follow its Supernovas over a radio network that will air all 24 home and away matches.

The Vegas Thrill will partner with Fox affiliate KVVU-TV (Fox 5) on a television package. Team president Ruben Herrera told VolleyballMAG that at least six of the Thrill’s matches will air on the Silver State Sports and Entertainment Network that includes the Las Vegas station and the Fox affiliate in Reno, KRXI-TV (Fox 11).

During the interview with VBM, Herrera could barely contain the excitement in his voice as he noted the invaluable exposure to casual viewers that could be generated on one of the Big 4 broadcast network stations. Las Vegas is the nation’s 42nd largest TV market with a population of 2.22 million in its metropolitan area.

Herrera said that some Thrill’s matches might be telecast on the main Fox station, but at the worst, they would bump over to its secondary digital channel, one click of the remote away at 5.2 (and on Cox Cable channel 125), the home of the Silver State network. He added that the sports network has “cleared space” for all 12 of the team’s home matches at Dollar Loan Center in suburban Henderson, Nevada, opening the possibility for more than six to air. Herrera also said that the Silver State channel would carry select road matches from those franchises with TV that would be of acceptable quality. Commentary would be voiced-over the base feed remotely by local announcers.

The Thrill will be the last of the seven PVF teams to launch their season, with the first match at the Supernovas on February 7 and the home opener against the Omaha squad on February 15. A release issued by the Thrill on Friday afternoon said that both matches will air as part of the TV package. Announcers have yet to be determined, Herrera said, but the matches chosen for TV will get an additional four cameras over and above what the arena normally uses for its in-house feed.

“We felt that it was important as a new entry in the Las Vegas sports market to give the casual fans an opportunity to see our product,” Herrera told VBM. “I am just super excited to have this partnership between the Thrill, Silver State Sports and Fox5. It’s a huge deal for us to have our matches on TV.”

Herrera said he was confident that after fans sampled the Thrill on TV “some of the casual viewers who see how exciting and competitive our product is will want to buy tickets to watch PVF volleyball live.”

Launched in 2022, the Silver State channel features an extensive menu of live events, including most games of the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces, games across multiple sports with UNLV, as well as the G-League’s Ignite team and the Vegas Night Hawks indoor football team, both of which play at Dollar Loan Center.

“We love that (Silver State) can provide a platform that instantly connects local fans and our latest pro team,” said Michael J. Korr, vice president and general manager of KVVU.

The Omaha franchise, which figures to have the league’s largest fan base, also made a significant announcement earlier in the week with the formation of the statewide Supernovas Radio Network.

KNTK-FM (93.7) out of Lincoln is the flagship station and three members of the Nebraska Rural Radio Network are affiliates. “The Ticket 93.7” features locally produced sports talk and programming from CBS Sports Network, as well as play-by-play for high-school sports including football, basketball and baseball. It is a Class A FM station with an effective radiating power of 6,000 watts and services the Lincoln, Nebraska, metropolitan area, which is roughly 45 miles southwest of Omaha.

The FM signal for The Ticket 93.7 does not reach Omaha, which seemingly could limit the broadcasts’ “stumble-upon” factor, but fans in the team’s prime market can access the matches through the station’s app. The station also can be heard through a link on its website (https://theticketfm.com/). Derrick Pearson, who owns KNTK-FM and will serve as the radio play-by-play voice, told VBM that “we are going to have a local option for Omaha soon.”

Highly decorated high school coach Renee Saunders, a two-sport standout during her collegiate career at Nebraska, will be the color analyst. Pearson and Saunders will call the Supernovas’ home and away matches from courtside. KRVN in Lexington, KOLT in Scottsbluff and KTIC in West Point of the Nebraska Rural Radio Network also will carry the team’s matches.

The only other team to have announced local media deals is the Rise. A selection of their matches will air on WXSP-TV and WMAX-FM. Not having a firm schedule of the league’s national-TV matches has been cited as an impediment to nailing down local television in a couple of markets. The Fury have no TV or radio deals in the works. Fans in Atlanta and Orlando might hear news from their teams.

O’Neal officially signs with Fury

The Columbus franchise, which launches its season on the second night of league competition with a road match against the Rise, officially brought a potential cornerstone player into the fold with the signing of superstar middle blocker Asjia O’Neal.

The first player chosen in the league’s inaugural college draft, O’Neal was set to join the Fury’s training camp on Saturday. She reportedly had been dealing with an ankle injury. O’Neal, 24, made vast contributions to back-to-back national championship teams with the Texas Longhorns and played with the USA women’s national team during the 2023 Volleyball Nations League.

“We are thrilled to officially welcome Asjia to the Columbus Fury,” coach Angel Perez said in a release issued by the team. “She brings a lot of intangibles when you are trying to build a culture and a franchise. What caught our attention was her relentlessness. Asjia is a proven winner, a tough competitor, and a fighter.”

Sponcil’s role: Libero 

Sarah Sponcil was a highly decorated outside hitter and setter during her indoor collegiate career at Loyola Marymount and UCLA, but defensive skills honed as one of the world’s best beach players seem likely to land her in the back row with the Rise.

Sponcil, 27, who represented the USA on the sand in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, abruptly walked away from beach volleyball to join the PVF. In the Rise’s training camp, she has worked as the libero.

“It’s about helping the team the most I can,” the 5-foot-9 Sponcil told VBM correspondent Aaron Hutton. “Right now, that’s at libero. I haven’t really stepped in and tried to set. We have a lot of great setters.”

She said that the switch from having one partner on the beach to blending in as part of an indoor team has been “a blast.”

“I’m enjoying this gig and merging new people,” she said, “diving into a group of 20 girls and getting to know them, learning their styles and how we’re going to work together. With beach is just one other person and you travel the world together and it’s great. But you learn a lot of life lessons when you’re a part of a team.”

Around the PVF … 

Added this week to the PVF website is a “League Transactions” option on the main menu bar that allows fans to track player movement. We can see, for example, that the Thrill have waived Olympic libero Kayla Banworth and have signed libero Anna Church, who had been claimed after being waived by the Supernovas. The Thrill and the San Diego Mojo have been most active, not surprising since their seasons start later than the other five teams. …

The PVF will use RefQuest Plus (RQ+) for officiating services. A release issued by the league said that “RQ+ will house all League officiating assignments, facilitate payments to officials, allow each official to use integrated signature software, and engage in their video collaboration software.” …

The Supernovas have rolled out a nifty promotion. By signing up in its online NovaZone, college students can gain free admission to the matches at CHI Health Center by presenting a student ID. In a video clip posted on social media, Gina Mancuso-Prososki said the team is “on a mission to have the craziest student section ever.”