By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal
Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy didn’t start out making chicken sandwiches.
Cathy and his brother, Ben, opened a small diner in 1946 called the Dwarf Grill, serving burgers, steaks and breakfast. It wasn’t until the 1960s that Cathy created the chicken sandwich that later made Chick-fil-A famous. It became so popular that the first Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in 1967.
For the last two years, I’ve poured everything I’ve had into the Austin Sports Journal, and believe me when I say this: I’m proud of what I’ve built.
But something has happened along the way that’s become harder to ignore: my audience has been telling me exactly what they want, and they want volleyball content.
Some may find it hard to believe that nearly 60% of ASJ’s website traffic and social media engagement comes from volleyball – for the year.
Not football. Not basketball. Not soccer. Volleyball.
Our most-read stories? Volleyball.
Our highest-engagement posts? Volleyball.
The content most shared? Volleyball.
And it’s not just local high school coverage. It’s college, it’s League One Volleyball, and it’s coming from every corner of Texas, not just Austin.
You may have noticed that we expanded our coverage statewide for the UIL volleyball championships this weekend. That was intentional and a test to see how the audience responded. And the results were unmistakable.
Over the last three days of statewide tournament coverage, more than 30,000 readers came to the Austin Sports Journal website – a surge that rivaled our football playoff traffic and showed just how strong the demand potentially is.
Volleyball is one of the fastest-growing sports in Texas in fan interest, yet mainstream coverage hasn’t caught up. Football may still be king in Texas, but volleyball is the queen.
When I asked Texas A&M head coach Jamie Morrison why attendance and viewership are climbing everywhere, he shared this:
My dad once told me, “you can do one thing well, or you can do a lot of things half-assed.” That line has guided me more than he probably knows.
So when the editor in me sees a growing, passionate community hungry for consistent, high-quality volleyball coverage, I feel a responsibility to step up. Not just because the audience is asking for it, but because I genuinely love this sport. I echo Harrison’s comment: “the sport is amazing.”
That’s why, today, less than 48 hours removed from the conclusion of the UIL volleyball state championships, I’m announcing that The Sports Journals, LLC – the parent company of the Austin Sports Journal – will launch the Texas Volleyball Journal in 2026.
I want to do for the sport of volleyball across Texas what Dave Campbell’s Texas Football did for football – and I’ll do it from a journalistic approach, not as a content creator.
The Teas Volleyball Journal will report on high schools, statewide recruiting, colleges, League One Volleyball and the new Major League Volleyball franchise in Dallas. All with the same hyper-local lens I brought to the ASJ. It will also dive into the evolving beach volleyball scene that’s growing just as fast as the indoor game.
The volleyball annual magazine will now be produced through the Texas Volleyball Journal, but with deeper statewide coverage, more analysis, and more previews that reflect the growth of the sport across the state.
Be on the lookout for more details about the Texas Volleyball Journal in the weeks to come.
So what does this mean for the Austin Sports Journal?
We’re not going anywhere.
The Austin Sports Journal will still cover high schools across the Austin–San Antonio corridor, but our focus will move from daily updates to storytelling, highlighting the programs, players and moments that celebrate community.
I believe this is the next step for the Austin Sports Journal and The Sports Journals, LLC as a whole. Volleyball isn’t just another fall sport anymore, it’s the queen to football, and it comes with a rapidly growing, passionate fan base.
To everyone who has supported the Austin Sports Journal these last two years — THANK YOU!. Your support has meant the world to me.
This isn’t goodbye. It’s an evolution and an expansion.
