Nebraska volleyball breaks women's world attendance record
Write “Nebraska Volleyball” at the top of the history books. The Huskers did it. They broke the world attendance record at a women’s sporting event. 92,003 fans filled Memorial Stadium for Volleyball Day in Nebraska.
Volleyball Day in Nebraska featured the Huskers playing Omaha at 7:00 p.m. and Wayne State battling Nebraska-Kearney at 4:30 p.m. Scotty McCreery will perform after Nebraska vs. Omaha.
The previous world attendance record was 91,648, set by Barcelona vs. Wolfsburg in a UEFA Champion League match set in 2022.
In fact, Nebraska volleyball set the attendance record in Memorial Stadium. The record was 91,585 and occurred when the Huskers beat Miami 41-31 in 2014.
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The USA women’s sporting event attendance record is 90,185. It was set during the 1999 FIFA World Cup Final when the USA took on China. The match was at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Husker Head Coach John Cook said he remembers the match and its magnitude for women’s athletics.
“I keep flashing back to when the soccer team played in the Rose Bowl, the USA soccer team and I can still vividly remember that whole scene, the whole match,” Cook said. “That was a big moment for women’s sports and it really shot soccer up. This is another great chance for that to happen and for the sport of volleyball.”
Volleyball Day in Nebraska: Five storylines to watch during the historic day
Nebraska also broke the NCAA volleyball regular-season record of 16,833. Wisconsin and Florida set the record last season in the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Huskers had previously owned the regular-season record and wanted it back badly. How bad? They scheduled a match in a football stadium.
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Nebraska and Wisconsin held the overall NCAA volleyball record of 18,755, which they set during the 2021 National title in Columbus, Ohio. Now the record belongs in Nebraska, thanks to all of the state of Nebraska.
An unimaginable feat
Cook never imagined that when Nebraska announced ‘Volleyball Day in Nebraska’ that Memorial Stadium would sell out.
University System President Ted Carter challenged Husker Nation and volleyball fans across the state to sell out the stadium. Nebraska did it and some.
They found a way to add even more sets and bodies. After the original sale sold out all of the seats within 36 hours, they opened up the South stadium. That sold out very quickly too.
The student section was placed on the field around the stage to add hundreds more tickets.
“We’re showing an example of what can be done and women’s programs need to start thinking about how they can do this too,” Cook said. “I’m just very proud that it’s at Nebraska and we have the support and administration here that would take this risk, because it was a big risk.”
The risk completely paid off as Nebraska volleyball has its name all over the record books.
“At Nebraska, we’re always aiming to “Dream Big” and raise the bar and there can’t be a much bigger way to do that than to play a match outdoors in a 90,000-seat football stadium,” Cook said.
