The 92,003 Who Cheered on Nebraska

On August 30, 2023, Nebraska volleyball fans packed Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, with a world-record 92,003 fans for a home match against Omaha. 

Those numbers are enormous and break a world record of 91,648 people who attended an April 2022 match between F.C. Barcelona and Wolfsburg in Barcelona. It also broke an American record of 90,185 fans that attended the 1999 Women’s World Cup Final, in which the United States defeated China at the Rose Bowl (New York Times).

But it didn’t happen overnight. 

This is the house that Nebraska Volleyball built, and leading up to the world record, Nebraska has sold out 306 consecutive regular-season volleyball matches, which is an NCAA women’s record (Huskers). This means since 2013, Nebraska Volleyball has led the nation in attendance (Huskers).

They also brought in $2.12 million in ticket sales during the 2021-2022 season, with Nebraska labeled a juggernaut by Sportico. UConn is the only other public FBS school that brings in more at $2.4 million, and only “two other women’s teams even made seven figures in the category: Louisville’s and Tennessee’s women’s basketball teams, which earned $1.23 million and $1.21 million, respectively.” 

Meaning this didn’t happen overnight, and while many naysayers will offer the trite argument that “people don’t watch women’s sports,” Nebraska volleyball has been building an empire.