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Post by bigfan on Dec 20, 2006 13:49:54 GMT -5
Any news or updates? This is the time of year when they get going.
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Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2006 14:06:13 GMT -5
Meghan Cumpston's playing with friend and former teammate Kim Glass, with Corozal.
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Post by Nutter on Dec 20, 2006 14:11:54 GMT -5
Where's USAFAN? He follows this league quite extensively.
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Post by baywatcher on Dec 20, 2006 15:08:11 GMT -5
How can Puerto Rico have a league and not the USA? Disgraceful.
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Post by standingroomonly1 on Dec 20, 2006 16:38:51 GMT -5
Any news or updates? This is the time of year when they get going. The teams will be training now but the league starts really the first of the new year. The official site for P/R volleyball is www.zonazaguera.com. It's in Spanish but there's a ton of info about mens and womens leagues there. If you need to translate, I use the site www.babelfish.altavista.com. Put in the zonazaguera site and use the translation dropdown from Spanish to English. |
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Post by Nutter on Dec 21, 2006 20:11:14 GMT -5
How can Puerto Rico have a league and not the USA? Disgraceful. I guess because like most of the other countries that have Pro VB Leagues, they have enough corporate (and likely fan, but mostly corporate I would think) support to make a go at it. |
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Post by Pirate VB Fan on Dec 21, 2006 23:15:05 GMT -5
How can Puerto Rico have a league and not the USA? Disgraceful. I guess because like most of the other countries that have Pro VB Leagues, they have enough corporate (and likely fan, but mostly corporate I would think) support to make a go at it. Nutter, you either missed or ignored baywatcher's point - PR is not a country, but rather a US territory. I guess PR has Pro VB much like the Northeast has Pro Lacrosse - it works there and not in the rest of the US and its territories. And no, we don't give you a pass on US geography just because you live in the "Far Northern US", eh.  |
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Post by Nutter on Dec 22, 2006 0:13:35 GMT -5
I guess because like most of the other countries that have Pro VB Leagues, they have enough corporate (and likely fan, but mostly corporate I would think) support to make a go at it. Nutter, you either missed or ignored baywatcher's point - PR is not a country, but rather a US territory. I guess PR has Pro VB much like the Northeast has Pro Lacrosse - it works there and not in the rest of the US and its territories. And no, we don't give you a pass on US geography just because you live in the "Far Northern US", eh. OK, you're trying to be funny here.  It was more like a dig that the US itself (for want of a better word to describe your part of the continent) couldn't support a pro league and a small U.S. territory like Puerto Rico can and has for a number of years. You're right, it works there. Hey, maybe with it's huge VB fan base, perhaps the states of Nebraska and Hawai'i can start something.  |
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Post by ugopher on Dec 22, 2006 9:49:42 GMT -5
I have often said that, at the current time, you cannot create a pro league nationwide. Focus on areas that have a strong collegiate following and build from there. Unfortunately for the rest of the country that would be in the Midwest - MN, Nebraska, Wisconsin. Hawaii would be great but the travel would be a financial killer.
I went to a few pro matches in Rochester, MN and they drew well. However, the other locations - Chicago, Grand Rapids, MI - didn't draw as well, I believe. You also would need to secure venues where 5,000 fans would fill the place vs. larger arenas.
Keeping it local would also help with travel expenses. You could also have two tours - Midwest and West coast with the winners playing for the championship.
Holding the league in the winter/spring would be best as football is over and it wouldn't interfere with beach volleyball.
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Post by bigfan on Dec 22, 2006 12:04:17 GMT -5
I have often said that, at the current time, you cannot create a pro league nationwide. Focus on areas that have a strong collegiate following and build from there. Unfortunately for the rest of the country that would be in the Midwest - MN, Nebraska, Wisconsin. Hawaii would be great but the travel would be a financial killer. I went to a few pro matches in Rochester, MN and they drew well. However, the other locations - Chicago, Grand Rapids, MI - didn't draw as well, I believe. You also would need to secure venues where 5,000 fans would fill the place vs. larger arenas. Keeping it local would also help with travel expenses. You could also have two tours - Midwest and West coast with the winners playing for the championship. Holding the league in the winter/spring would be best as football is over and it wouldn't interfere with beach volleyball. You know they tried to set up a professional league here in the mid-80's....it went for a year and then went belly up. |
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Post by Gorf on Dec 22, 2006 13:23:54 GMT -5
If we're thinking of the same 80s league it was called Major League Volleyball (MLV) and it actually lasted 3-4 years as a league then the Minnesota franchise continued organizing and playing matches for another year or so after that.
The original teams as my addled brain can remember were:
Minnesota - Monarchs
Chicago - Breeze
Dallas - ?
Portland - ?
LA - Starlights
San Jose - ?
New York - Liberties?
Minnesota and Portland were the only teams that could get a decent number of fans to attend their home matches. I believe the Monarchs averaged ~2,500 per home match and Portland was perhaps ~1,500-1,800 for their home matches.
The Monarchs were undefeated when the league decided to fold and the last match of the season was the Monarchs against the All-Star players from the other 5 teams. The Monarchs won in 5 games - I still have that match on video tape somewhere.
The Monarchs continued playing for like 1-2 years after that putting together lineups of some very good players (Daiva Tompkus, Ann Boyer, Keba Phipps, Diane Ratnik, to name a handful) from around the US and Canada that were willing to take a chance on playing for a while with a team that was trying hard to garner attention for volleyball in hopes of eventually starting another league.
They played matches against national and club teams from around the world. Arie Selinger brought his clup team from Japan, there was at least one club team from Russia.
One of the problems they had was that the matches for a weekend were against the same team each night so attendance would be very good one night and dwindle the other nights.
Eventually they started having financial problems and folded their team as well.
It's too bad that league failed because there was some very high level volleyball being played in most of their matches.
I think the biggest problem that league had was what ugopher (and others have) mentioned. The league was to widely dispersed around the country making travel more expensive that it would have been if the league was more localized.
The USPV was going pretty well overall until the recession hit and their largest sponsor(s) withdrew their promised funding.
It would be interesting to create a league that was made up of like 2-4 divisions with each division being in different parts of the country and playing only teams in their own area (perhaps occasional travel to play against teams in other divisiions) for the most part. Then have a tournament that is made up of the top 1-2 teams in each division.
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Post by Wolfgang on Dec 22, 2006 13:26:54 GMT -5
What I hated the most about the USPV (and a lot of similar leagues like the WNBA) is that the teams played each other so many frikkin' times, it got to be dull. I know why they did it, of course: so few teams, need to schedule a lot of games to generate revenue, and give the communities a chance to spark some interest. But hell, I couldn't stand it!
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Post by VBCOACH on Dec 22, 2006 16:00:32 GMT -5
The original teams as my addled brain can remember were: Minnesota - Monarchs Chicago - Breeze Dallas - ? Portland - ? LA - Starlights San Jose - ? New York - Liberties? Dallas Belles Portland Spikers San Jose Golddiggers New York Liberties |
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