Kansas City will add professional women’s volleyball team in new league in 2025

Professional women’s volleyball is coming to Kansas City.

The Pro Volleyball Federation, set to begin its inaugural season in January of 2024 in seven cities, plans to launch in Kansas City a year later.

Kansas City, Dallas and at least one more team will debut in 2025. Teams that will play in two months are based in Atlanta, Columbus, Ohio, Grand Rapids, Mich., Omaha, Orlando and San Diego.

No name has been announced for the Kansas City team, and logo and colors have not yet been shared. A roster will be determined and a coach and front office will be hired. But there is an ownership team: Missy and Kent McCarthy.

“Why not Kansas City, and why not now?” Missy McCarthy said. “We should have had professional volleyball a long time ago.”

Kent McCarthy is the president and founder of Jayhawk Capital Management. Missy’s great uncle was Howard Engleman, a former Kansas All-America basketball player. Two of their children play sports at Kansas: Charlie is on the basketball team, and Molly plays volleyball.

The McCarthys, who have lived in Kansas and California, were approached by the league in March about a team in Kansas City

“We’re a sports family and we thought this would be a great fit,” Missy McCarthy said.

The Pro Volleyball Federation announced its formation in November 2022 as the “real pro volleyball and the premier women’s professional volleyball league in North America.” Also, players will earn a living wage, the league said, comparable to a first year WNBA player. The minimum salary in the WNBA last season was about $62,000.

Among investors in the league are Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and his family and former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer.

Teams will play 24-game schedules in the first season. Rosters will include 14 players.

The league founders are Dave Whinham, president and CEO of Columbus-based The TEAM Management, LLC, and Stephen Evans, president of The Remedy, a brand strategy agency in Dallas.

Kansas City’s volleyball credentials include some 17,000 players and 3,000 coaches in the Kansas City-based Heart of America Volleyball organization; record setting crowds for the NCAA Championship at the 2017 Final Four and the event returning to T-Mobile Center in 2025. Some 15 Kansas City area colleges sponsor women’s volleyball.

“I can’t wait to see the region embrace professional women’s volleyball,” said Kathy Nelson, president and CEO of the Kansas City Sports Commission and Visit KC. “This is the perfect addition to our portfolio of professional teams and will complement the thriving youth and collegiate volleyball programs in our region.”