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We Need More Volleyball On TV
- Jason
- Aug 26, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 2, 2023
*Originally posted, April 18th, 2022.
I am reposting this to start the college season because I think that when you have as many upsets as happened on opening day in a college sport that is followed by millions across the country and you get 0 coverage from the main sports media, it's fair to say we need to be discussing this more.
This video link was shared with me multiple times on social media and emailed/texted to me by several other people. I think it's really good. If you're unaware with some of the issues involving volleyball trying to get more air time, then this is a good place to start. The link is below.
I highly respect all of these coaches and they are certainly some of the best in the business. I was a little perplexed though after watching this as I'm not sure what we are supposed to do next. Yes, women's volleyball needs to get on TV more, but what are we actually doing about it, proactively, besides having discussions? I will say that I 100% agree with Coach Flory when she talked about how marketable and great our sport is on its own. I think volleyball has bended, changed rules and been far too willing to adapt to the "TV people" without seeing really any benefit from it. In some ways it feels like the cable networks are just giving the volleyball community areas to work on or change, just so we have something to do and will leave them alone. Even as the sport makes the changes, they then just give us another list of updates to make. But here are some of my thoughts based on some of the things discussed in the video.
Take women's basketball out of the equation.
"Apples and Oranges" was a term used several times in the video and I think that's true. So let's stop talking about this part. We can compare ourselves statistically to women's basketball and even do significantly better than women's basketball in the TV market, but it doesn't matter because no one seems to be listening to that argument and they won't 5 years from now. Not only does it begin to feel like a "us vs them" or "there can be only one" kind of mentality, but I think we are taking away from the WHY VOLLEYBALL IS AWESOME! We aren't going to change the minds of ADs and Presidents by going, "look at our attendance." We need to get people to love volleyball and NOT try to get them to just choose us over women's basketball.
Who are our advocates at the highest level?
Who are these producers, ESPN people and other higher ups that we are having all of these discussions with? How can we show our support for the sport? If they are trying to advocate for us, then how can we support them? Can we message them on instagram or twitter? How can the 10s of thousands of athletes and families that were playing in a USAV National Qualifier get those people's attention through social media and otherwise to show them how many people really love and enjoy this sport. How can we show them the passion and day-in-day-out work that goes into these college programs and club programs?
Back in the Tebow era of the NFL, I remember Colin Cowherd commenting about how people would get annoyed at how much he talked about Tebow. He himself didn't seem overly excited in discussing the topic, but he explained that his inbox was FULL of messages and comments asking about Tebow, his opinion on him, what he should do next. Cowherd commented that you talk about the topics that people are interested in. For the same reason, he said, he didn't talk about hockey. Not enough people cared about that sport, at least, those that listened to his show. My point being that IF there are people involved in these discussions with the AVCA or college coaches across the country, then we NEED to be making sure they hear about volleyball. We need to be making sure they hear about volleyball 50 weeks of the year outside of the Women's Final Four.
Why doesn't ESPN like volleyball?
I don't have an answer for this. I'm not convinced (as stated above) that the reasons they give are incredibly valid in my opinion. But my highlight here is the Instagram account "ESPNW" which is supposed to celebrate women in sport. Well their 3 posts about volleyball while beach and indoor were winning the gold during the last olympics say otherwise. Indoor volleyball got one post, when they won gold...and that was it. Nothing before or during their final match. Basically 0 content during the olympics in their feed about volleyball. For whatever reason they don't see volleyball necessarily as a sport they need to currently advocate for. Gymnastics and basketball, yes. But not volleyball.
My advice to all of the volleyball peeps out there would be to tag ESPNW in every volleyball post you make on Instagram. Maybe if we can create more of a presence there it will carry over to some of the other sport channels. The more content we can create and share with people who normally don't focus on volleyball will hopefully generate a slight shift in our direction. I honestly don't know if it will do a TON of difference, but I figure we need to make small campaigns and try.
We need some personalities.
Lexi Sunn has more followers on her Instagram account then 3 of the 4 programs represented in this video. I think that outside of some of the more prestigious programs across the country, most of the individual athletes have more followers on social media. It's safe to say that most of us and the general public will watch a sporting event based more on the personalities in that sport than the overall sport as a whole. Obviously there are diehard fans of particular teams and sports, but with personality we enable the sport to reach an entirely new audience. Names on the jerseys is a great start. Mention the athletes by name in social media posts. Interview athletes after games more often. Coaches could do more to push their own brand I think as well. Now, I know some people will say that it's a team sport and we shouldn't elevate any one individual over the others. There is something to be said about that for sure. But I think when it comes to identifying personalities and stories that are going to hit home with a wider audience, there is room to focus on some players. Some people might argue the "chicken before the egg" and we need to get on TV in order to tell the stories and communicate about the personalities that we have. I think there is an argument there for sure. That's still a waiting game though and I feel like we are all getting tired of waiting.
I think we fix this problem more with action. Let's take some steps to do ALL we can to stand out. NOT to just slide into where women's basketball is currently. Can we begin to create an environment as a volleyball community where the cable sports channels can no longer push us off and ignore us. We aren't the cool kids right now and so we aren't getting invited right now. What can we do to shift their attention so that we get invited to the party?
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