Athletes Unlimited revamps volleyball offering with plans to play in sport’s biggest hubs

The GIST: Yesterday, Athletes Unlimited (AU) Pro Volleyball revamped its volleyball championship with an exclusive, invite-only tournament featuring 44 of the world’s top players. For the first time ever, AU is splitting up its season across two cities known for their love of the game: Omaha, Nebraska and Madison, Wisconsin.

• By tapping into passionate volleyball markets, AU is developing a transferable playbook on how to take advantage of niche and local fandom. Striking.

The changes: Now dubbed the AU Pro Volleyball Championship, the five-week competition will spend two weeks in Omaha, followed by three weeks in Madison. ESPN platforms will exclusively broadcast 15 matches, with additional streaming partners to be named.

• While last year’s tourney was hosted in Mesa, Arizona, city rotation is nothing new for AU, which has market-tested in Rosemont, Illinois, and Nashville, Tennessee for its softball and basketball competitions, respectively.

The hotspots: Both Omaha and Madison are massive women’s college volleyball hubs. Nebraska set the sport’s attendance record with 92K fans in 2023 and made $2.22M in ticket sales for the 2022-23 season. The Wisconsin Badgers also perform well, finishing behind only Nebraska in average attendance last season (7.3K) and in 2022-23 ticket sales ($1.54M).

• And AU isn’t the first to take advantage. League One Volleyball (LOVB, pronounced “love”) launched two of its inaugural six teams in these markets, and one of PVF’s eight franchises plays in Omaha.

The precedent: AU’s market-testing has worked wonders, with Nashville’s avid college fandom keeping AU Basketball in the city after posting major YoY boosts in viewership (96%) and attendance (89%). Other women’s sports leagues have acted similarly: The WNBA tested Toronto with an exhibition game before awarding the city a team. The PWHL’s Takeover Tour is how it scoped out cities for its two newest franchises.

• In Omaha, LOVB has built a dedicated facility and has seen brands like Rebel Girls partner with the Nebraska team. With PVF and LOVB out of season this fall, local and national brands will be able to activate in a primed volleyball market with a built-in audience.

• This is similar to Eugene, Oregon, which has been marketed as TrackTown, USA. With the city being synonymous with running, both legacy brands like Nike and up-and-comers like Bandit Running routinely activate around tentpole events like the U.S. Track & Field Trials.

Zooming out: Marketers should consider taking a page from AU’s playbook and show up where niche sports fans already are — in passionate, often overlooked hubs. Leading sports companies have seen unmatched visibility by activating at major events in these high-energy, under-the-radar markets, adding to the hype and fanfare. Way to rally.