When the University of Nebraska throws a celebration of volleyball at Memorial Stadium on Wednesday night, a record-breaking turnout may be set.
The tournament will feature a regular-season game between Omaha and the fourth-ranked Cornhuskers as well as an exhibition game between Nebraska-Kearney and Wayne State, two local Division II powerhouses. After that, country musician Scotty McCreery will take the stage.
Officials from the Nebraska athletic department are aiming to break the mark for women’s sporting event attendance of 91,648, which was set in 2022 during a Champions League soccer match between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Camp Nou Stadium. Barcelona won the match 5-2.
Huskers outside hitter Harper Murray said, “If any place can do it, it’s Nebraska.
Although Memorial Stadium has a football-specific capacity of slightly over 85,000, there will be more people there for this event because there will be seats available on the field. On the north side of the stadium, which serves as the Huskers football team’s home field, is where the court is located.
of least one game of the unofficial 1971 Women’s World Cup in Mexico City reportedly reached 110,000 spectators, despite the fact that 91,648 is generally considered to be the record for women’s sports attendance.
The 1999 World Cup soccer final of United States vs. China in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, set a record for female sports attendance in the country with 90,185 spectators. Brandi Chastain tore off her jersey after scoring the game-winning penalty shot for the U.S. in that match.
A crowd of more than 90,000 would undoubtedly be among the largest for a non-football game, according to Associate Director of media coordination & statistics Jeff Williams, even though the NCAA does not keep track of attendance across all sports. More than 113,000 spectators attended a 2010 outdoor hockey match between Michigan & Michigan State at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
Officials of Guinness World Records did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.
Whatever the turnout on Wednesday, the occasion was viewed as a celebration of women’s sports, specifically volleyball.
Since Wednesday’s game won’t take place on Nebraska’s Devaney Center court, it won’t count toward the team’s streak of 306 straight sold-out regular-season games. Since 2013, Nebraska has had the highest attendance in the country, and eight of the biggest nine crowds in NCAA volleyball history have come from Huskers events.
Huskers coach John Cook remarked, “I keep remembering the USA soccer team competing at the Rose Bowl. “Soccer really took off at that time, and it was a huge period for women’s sports. This, in my opinion, is yet another excellent opportunity for it to occur in the game of volleyball.
According to athletic department CFO Doug Ewald, Nebraska’s volleyball program is one of the few in Division I women’s sports to make a profit, making $1 million last year. Nebraska has won five national titles in the sport.
Before the games, Omaha fan Troy Pfannenstiel remarked, “This is an affirmation of Title IX, and with two daughters of my own, whatever Title IX has done for women’s sports is huge.”
Classes were canceled for the day by Chancellor Rodney Bennett. Both Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti and NCAA President Charlie Baker were expected to attend. Likewise, Husker volleyball players who participated on teams led by legendary coach Terry Pettit during a forty-year span were. Class absences were granted so that high school teams from all over the 430-mile border to border state could compete.
This season, there are 75 Nebraskan women who are playing volleyball in Division I. According to volleyball statistician & historian Rich Kern of RichKern.com, the state produces 44 players per million people, which places it second only to Hawaii (67 per million) in terms of the number of Division I players produced per capita.
In the United States, volleyball is now the most popular team sport for girls in high school, surpassing basketball. It has long dominated Nebraska.
In the state, high school volleyball is played by about 7,000 girls. Since the early 1900s, volleyball has been played in various forms in Nebraska. Girls’ volleyball games have traditionally served as warm-up events for boys’ basketball contests. The popularity of volleyball increased after it was made an official sport in 1972 and when Pettit invited several of the state’s high school coaches to assist at his camps in Lincoln.
Additionally, Pettit ran so-called “satellite” clinics in rural areas all around the state. Many girls in a place where boys dream of playing football for the Cornhuskers grow up dreaming just as passionately about playing volleyball for a Nebraska team that consistently ranks among the best in the country.
For her first collegiate volleyball match, 10-year-old Ella Beck traveled from small Pierce with a group to support her favorite player, setter Lexi Rodriguez.
Neveah Kehr, 10, traveled from Bismarck, North Dakota, with her mother Nicki to attend the event. Nicki, a Nebraska graduate, raised her daughter while cheering on the Huskers on television.
At a pre-match pep rally, Bekka Allick’s middle blocker, wearing No. 5, was introduced to Neveah, who was wearing the same jersey. With over a thousand spectators applauding, Neveah was encouraged to move over to where the players were standing.
Bekka hugged Neveah after she started crying.