{"id":305218,"date":"2025-10-15T11:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/305218\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T11:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:28:12","slug":"alexis-ohanian-buys-new-los-angeles-volleyball-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/305218\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexis Ohanian Buys New Los Angeles Volleyball Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tReddit co-founder and tech investor Alexis Ohanian<\/a> got a common piece of feedback when he brought an NWSL expansion<\/a> franchise\u2014Angel City FC\u2014to Los Angeles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tDoesn\u2019t LA already have enough teams?\u00a0The area has two franchises in each of the five biggest U.S. leagues, plus USC and UCLA\u2014not to mention numerous non-sports magnets for time, money and attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI remember everyone who told me that LA could not handle another team,\u201d Ohanian said in a phone interview. \u201cWe obviously proved them wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAngel City is now the most valuable NWSL franchise, according to\u00a0Sportico\u2019s\u00a0valuations<\/a>, and Ohanian has yet to find the limit of Angelinos\u2019 capacity for sports.\u00a0He still holds an investment in Angel City after its sale to Willow Bay and Bob Iger, and along with his wife Serena Williams and her sister Venus, Ohanian also\u00a0purchased<\/a>\u00a0the first team in tech-forward golf league TGL in 2023, dubbing it Los Angeles Golf Club.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNow Ohanian is bringing professional women\u2019s volleyball to Tinseltown. LOVB Los Angeles will become League One Volleyball\u2019s seventh pro team beginning in January 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt may not seem obvious where women\u2019s soccer, golf and women\u2019s volleyball all fit together, but these are three major, major sports that have major, major fan bases in Southern California,\u201d Ohanian said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have a lot of shared resources there and then just a lot more momentum.\u201d The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics have the potential to further boost sports teams in the market. <\/p>\n

\n\tBoth TGL and LOVB launched as centrally owned entities. LOVB still controls the competitive product and core operations, while team owners focus on local growth. Ohanian paid an expansion fee and made an investment in the league overall.\u00a0Financial terms were not announced and a home venue has not been set.<\/p>\n

\n\tLOVB began its inaugural pro season in January, using its existing club programs for 25,000 junior athletes as a source of revenue, physical infrastructure, fans and potential future stars. It already has multiple programs in Southern California. LOVB raised\u00a0$100 million<\/a>\u00a0in preparation for its pro league launch and recently struck a deal that will see matches, including the championship, air on USA Network beginning in January 2026.\u00a0It plans<\/a> to add an eighth team for 2027 as well. <\/p>\n

\n\tBut LOVB also has competition. Major League Volleyball is expected to launch in 2026 after\u00a0merging<\/a>\u00a0with the Pro Volleyball Federation. It recently raised $40 million at a valuation of more than $325 million, with one of eight founding teams based in San Diego.<\/p>\n

\n\tGiven Ohanian\u2019s growing experience in the LA market, crowdedness isn\u2019t a concern.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCompetition is good for everybody; I\u2019ve had it in everything I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d actually be a little unsettled if there wasn\u2019t competition for a company that I\u2019m starting or building.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOhanian\u2019s other sports investments include women\u2019s track and field series Athlos and a minority stake in the Chelsea FC women\u2019s soccer team.\u00a0Ohanian said he\u2019s learned from his initial Angel City arrangement; he was the team\u2019s founding control owner, but he did not have control of the club\u2019s board. That rare setup contributed to internal\u00a0friction<\/a>\u00a0over team operations and finances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI got it right with LA Golf Club\u2014fully own the team, fully control the board,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re following a similar model here with League One.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reddit co-founder and tech investor Alexis Ohanian got a common piece of feedback when he brought an NWSL…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":305219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[70792,1582,276,15980,2961,224,5337,1707],"class_list":{"0":"post-305218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-alexis-ohanian","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-expansion","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-losangeles","15":"tag-womens-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115377950208896851","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}