Why isn’t 6v6 team volleyball as popular in the US as sports like basketball, baseball, hockey, etc.?

There is not a lot of movement compared to sports like hand-egg, basket ball, or base ball, with players mostly standing or shuffling around, instead of running around like headless chicken, and they do not tackle the opposing players, either.
It also uses a quite small playing field, which means you can not build giant arenas around it, making it feel less “grand”.

Because there is/are better, more interesting things to see on TV, and TV is the key.

Much of what has held Vball back is that it is considered a “woman’s sport”. Women play it equally as well as men. So networks don’t devote as much time as they might.

It is very popular in Southern California, there was even a woman’s pro league for a while.

Side note: The US Women’s Coach, Karch Kiraly, was the coach for his sister’s volleyball team at the 2nd All-California Inter-sorority Volleyball Tournament held in Santa Barbara in 1978. His sister’s team won the tournament.

@ragingloli It’s usually played in the same arenas as basketball.

@zenvelo Interesting point about volleyball being considered a “women’s sport.” I’ve never thought of it that way, but that could go a long way to explaining the lack of popularity.

My thought is that it is not a game that is easy for young kids to pick up. There is no feeder system to get young kids into the game and hence it is not as popular.
The same could be seen with soccer in the US. It really didnt get popular in the US until the 80’s & 90’s when the kids leagues picked up getting children into the game. Prior to that it was baseball, football, basketball, tennis.
Its all about building a love for the game at an early age.

I for one love the game as a player, but it also is not very exciting as a spectator. Thus there will not be the same coverage and so the circle goes.

@Forever_Free Really great point about the sport being difficult for kids to get into. I disagree with it not being exciting to watch as a spectator though. You’ve got strategy, deception, feats of strength and athleticism, teamwork, etc. I’d rather watch volleyball than basketball any day.

@gorillapaws I agree the sport is exciting to watch and would also choose it over Basketball.
However, the same rule applies: If you never took interest in it as a kid, you didn’t do it as a teen or adult, then you won’t find it exciting as the Basketball game that you can associate with.