LOVB Salt Lake bought by former NFL, college football stars as league continues ownership trend

TAYLORSVILLE — Terrence Murphy's second act is quickly becoming even more successful than his first.

The former Texas A&M football star and second-round NFL draft pick added the League One Volleyball franchise in Salt Lake City, known as LOVB Salt Lake, to his business portfolio under Synergy Sports Capital, the $150 million private equity fund he leads with former Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush.

Details of the acquisition were not disclosed by Synergy or League One Volleyball, which announced the acquisition Thursday morning. Murphy has been described as an entrepreneur who built a multi-billion dollar real estate and investment platform with thousands of transactions and more than 100 companies started, acquired, or invested in under his portfolio since he retired from the NFL in 2007.

Synergy's recently launched inaugural fund recently planned to raise $150 million from a group of limited partners to invest in what it calls "emerging sports leagues," including Unrivaled 3x3 women's basketball, Major League Pickleball, TGL Golf and the National Women's Soccer League, according to Front Office Sports.

The former All-Big 12 first-team wide receiver at Texas A&M was the No. 58 overall selection in the 2005 NFL draft when he played in three games as a pass catcher and punt returner for the Green Bay Packers. But Murphy was injured midway through his rookie season from a helmet-to-helmet hit on a kickoff return, which led to a medical diagnosis of spinal stenosis — or a narrowing of the spine near the neck — that prompted him to retire, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Now the part-time Park City resident also a self-described "volleyball dad," with a daughter who plays for Houston Skyline, one of League One's grassroots partner clubs that also includes Utah's Club V and Club 801.

"Salt Lake has everything you want in a winning organization — a talented team with great chemistry, a passionate and growing sports market, and a culture that values grit and competitiveness," Murphy said in a statement. "As a volleyball dad, this sport means a lot to me personally, and the opportunity to help build something special here made this the right fit. Our goal is to create one of the toughest home-court environments in the league."

LOVB Salt Lake is in its second year since launching, and currently ranks tied for second in the six-team League One Volleyball with one match left in the regular season after Wednesday night's 3-0 road loss to first-place LOVB Houston.

The league features one in five players with Olympic experience, as well as three of every four with national team experience, and top-flight athletes from more than 21 countries including Salt Lake setter Jordyn Poulter, reigning LOVB Libero of the Year Manami Kojima, and former BYU and Utah standouts Dani Drews, Roni Jones-Perry, Mary Lake Bennett and Alexa Gray.

The league raised more than $160 million on its startup with celebrity investors including Billie Jean King, Kevin Durant, Alexis Ohanian, Lindsey Vonn and Jayson Tatum. Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit who is married to tennis superstar Venus Williams, recently entered into an agreement to add a franchise in Los Angeles to pair with ownership stakes in the NWSL's Angel City FC and TGL's Los Angeles Golf Club under his firm Seven Seven Six.

Lone Star Sports & Entertainment, the company that owns the NFL's Houston Texans, announced in November that it had acquired the rights to the LOVB Houston franchise, and a lengthy list of celebrity investors will also add an expansion team in San Francisco for the 2027 season.

"Synergy is exactly the kind of ownership group we look to partner with as LOVB grows," said LOVB chief growth officer Stephanie Alger in a statement. "They understand both the opportunity in professional women's volleyball and what it takes to build successful teams, combining athlete leadership with strong investment experience."

Murphy said Salt Lake was the exact team he wanted when he was looking to invest in the league.

"When we were looking for the right team to connect to and acquire, this team kept jumping off the screen when I watched how they played, the energy and everything they stand for," he told the players after a recent practice in a video released by the LOVB. "That's important.

"We're excited to be in the family," he added.

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