Nebraska volleyball event draws 92,003 fans to set women's sports attendance record
CBC
Nebraska's fight song begins, "There is no place like Nebraska." When it comes to volleyball, those words never rang more true than Wednesday night.
The Cornhuskers laid claim to the world record for largest attendance at a women's sporting event with 92,003 filling Memorial Stadium in Lincoln for their volleyball match against Omaha.
The university took aim at the record last spring when it announced it would hold a daylong celebration of a sport that enjoys immense popularity in this state of fewer than 2 million.
The event began with an exhibition between in-state Division II powers Nebraska-Kearney and Wayne State and was followed by the Huskers' three-set sweep of Omaha in a regular-season match. Country artist Scotty McCreery performed afterward.
Memorial Stadium's official capacity is just over 85,000 for football, but that number was higher for this event because there were seats and standing room on the field.
Fans in red and white started their tailgate parties outside the stadium hours before first serve of an exhibition Wayne State won in three sets. The stadium was one-quarter full at the start of that match and gradually filled to capacity as players for Omaha and Nebraska were warming up.
There was a flyover during the national anthem and, minutes before first serve, coach John Cook led his Huskers into the stadium to the Tunnel Walk, the longtime tradition of the football team. Synchronized chants of "Go Big Red!" were heard all around.
Conditions were near perfect: 83 degrees, clear skies and a south wind listed at 4-mph at court level with gusts.
Though 91,648 was widely acknowledged as the women's sports attendance record, at least one match at the unofficial 1971 Women's World Cup in Mexico City reportedly drew 110,000 people.
The American record attendance for a women's sporting event had been 90,185 for the 1999 World Cup soccer final between the United States and China at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California — the game where Brandi Chastain ripped off her shirt after scoring the decisive penalty shot for the U.S. win.
The NCAA does not track attendance across all sports, but associate director of media coordination and statistics Jeff Williams said a crowd of 90,000-plus was easily among the largest for a non-football game. A 2010 outdoor hockey game between Michigan and Michigan State at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor drew more than 113,000 fans.
A message seeking comment from officials of Guinness World Records was not immediately returned.
Nebraska has sold out 306 consecutive regular-season matches (Wednesday's event won't count toward the streak because it is not being held on the team's Devaney Center court). The Huskers have led the nation in attendance every season since 2013, and eight of the top nine crowds in NCAA volleyball history are matches that have involved Nebraska.
Nebraska has won five national championships in volleyball, and its program is one of the few in Division I women's sports that turns a profit — $1 million US last year, according to athletic department CFO Doug Ewald.
