Chances are you've played, know someone who plays, or at least have heard of bocce.

"This inviting culture to be able to compete and have a good time with your friends and family has really sparked that explosion in this area for the sport," says Danny Catullo, Commissioner of the Ohio Bocce League. 

Northeast Ohio and Western PA are no strangers to the sport of bocce. With multiple leagues and tournaments happening throughout the year, it's no surprise this area is a hotbed for some of the best in the game. And with the rise of live streaming, more eyeballs are on the game than ever before.

"What we have been doing over the course of the last 2 to 3 years, through the explosion of the sport of bocce, has really been live streaming. Whether it be some of our great bocce players doing it on their phones using Facebook, with the Bocce Broadcast Network using YouTube as the perfect medium to get our sport to the masses. We saw this explosion of that," says Catullo. 

That explosion led some in the Valley to believe the time is now to create the region's first semi-pro bocce league, and from there, the Ohio Bocce league was born.

"Our area has some of the best bocce players in it, and to be able to have them be competing weekly in this high-pressure league situation, this is the drama, these are the story lines that people are going to want to see in our very fun sport," adds Catullo. 

The Ohio Bocce League will comprise over 42 players drafted to 6 teams from across the area; one team representing Western Pennsylvania, two from Cleveland, and the other teams representing the Youngstown area. Catullo thinks this will draw bocce enthusiasts locally, but he knows this niche sport has room to grow.

"Now to grow a niche sport, you don't need to be on a major network to do that, you can be able to broadcast on to YouTube. So to have this opportunity to grow the sport in more of a grassroots style, we believe we can grow our sport through YouTube, from using social media from our amazing players on Instagram, on Meta, on X. If we can do that, we can grow the sport to something even better," explains Catullo. 

The Ohio Bocce League is still looking for franchise owners and league sponsors. If you're interested, you can follow this LINK for more information on the league. The league is set to kick off in September.