Nebraska’s goal was to set the NCAA volleyball attendance record when it announced the “Volleyball Day in Nebraska” outdoor event at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln this summer.
With almost 83,000 tickets sold for the Aug. 30 doubleheader, Nebraska now hopes to set the overall one-day U.S. women’s sports attendance record of more than 90,000.
The event starts with a Division II exhibition between Wayne State and Nebraska-Kearney and will be followed by a regular-season match between the Cornhuskers and Omaha.
The athletic department announced Thursday that 82,900 tickets have been sold since sales started Tuesday. That number doesn’t include field-level seating or indoor club seating.
“Nebraska fans never cease to amaze me,” athletic director Trev Alberts said in a statement. “We knew the interest in this match would be extremely high, but to sell out Memorial Stadium is truly remarkable.”
An athletic department spokesman said a maximum capacity for the event hasn’t been determined. At least 4,000 field-level seats will go to students at Memorial Stadium, which has a capacity of about 85,000.
The NCAA volleyball record for any match is 18,755, set when Nebraska played Wisconsin in the 2021 national championship match indoors in Columbus, Ohio. The regular-season record is 16,833, set when Wisconsin hosted Florida last September.
The largest crowd to attend a women’s sporting event in the United States was 90,185 fans watching soccer for the 1999 Women’s World Cup final between the United States and China at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
The world record is 91,553, set when Barcelona played Real Madrid in Spain in a UEFA Women’s Champions League match in 2022.
Volleyball is the most popular women’s sport in Nebraska. The Huskers have won five national titles and sold out an NCAA-record 303 consecutive regular-season matches. They averaged 8,190 fans per match at the Devaney Sports Center last season and have led the nation in attendance every year since 2013.
Of the 14 largest NCAA regular-season crowds, 13 have involved the Huskers. Wayne State and Nebraska-Kearney each rank in the top 10 in Division II attendance.