Major League Volleyball (MLV), the nascent US competition, has tapped expertise from a range of major US sports agencies to support its growing commercial aims.
Karen Brodkin, chief operating officer of the basketball division of international consultancy WME, and Hillary Mandel, the executive vice president and head of commercial for the Americas at the IMG agency, have both been brought in to advise on MLV’s media rights strategy.
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This will conclude consultation on the makeup of MLV’s broadcast rights offering, and the strategy through which it is sold to media companies and distributors.
On the league’s commercial partnerships, MLV has retained the agency Echelon to lead its nationwide sponsorship strategy, with co-head and partner Doug Smoyer leading the collaboration.
All of this together, MLV has stated, is a means of establishing a partnership platform that can attract brands beyond the endemic volleyball space, both nationally and internationally, including, as it says, Fortune 500 companies.
Speaking on the announcement, Smoyer said: “Major League Volleyball represents one of the most compelling untapped opportunities in sports today.
"Volleyball has tremendous scale, passionate fans, and deep connections with families and young athletes. Our focus is building a commercial platform that creates value for brand partners while helping accelerate the growth of MLV, its teams, and its athletes.”
Jaime Weston, the MLV commissioner, added: “As interest in the league continues to grow, we are putting the infrastructure in place to capitalize on that momentum. From strategic partnerships with Karen and Hillary, and Echelon, we are building a league positioned for expansion, investment, and long-term success. Volleyball's growth in the US continues to accelerate, and MLV intends to be at the center of it."
Formed out of a merger with the former Pro Volleyball Federation in August 2025, MLV recently completed its third campaign, featuring eight franchises.
The upcoming fourth season, however, will see the competition expanded by almost 50%, with a roster of four new expansion franchises (and one franchise dropping out) taking the new tally up to 11.
New teams will be located in Los Angeles, Northern California (covering San Jose, San Francisco, and Sacramento), Washington DC, and Minnesota.
To this end, MLV has secured wide-ranging investment from prominent figures across sports and entertainment, including Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé, Omaha Supernovas founder Danny White, artist Jason Derulo, MLV Northern California owner Kerri Walsh Jennings, and venture capitalist Theresia Gouw, who has stakes in the Buffalo Bills, Bay FC, and MLV’s Northern California franchise.
Most recently, businessman Patrick Soon-Shiong headed the group that established the Los Angeles franchise.
Earlier this year, MLV also secured a new partnership with LTN, the global broadcast media technology solutions provider, to produce and distribute live broadcasts ahead of the 2026 season.
Under the deal, up to 50 MLV games will be broadcast across 2026, a record for the competition, with LTN stepping in to provide a range of broadcast enhancement products, including multi-camera setup, remote broadcast transmission, and centralized broadcast production from its Kansas City facility.
