When the University of Nebraska women’s volleyball team hosted Omaha on Wednesday night, Memorial Stadium was the place to be.
According to the university, the official attendance of 92,003 in Lincoln, at what is typically the university’s football stadium, set the record for the highest announced crowd at a women’s sporting event.
A UEFA Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Wolfsburg was watched by 91,648 soccer fans in Barcelona, Spain, in April 2022, breaking the previous attendance record.
The previous US record for a women’s sporting event was set in July 1999 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, for the United States-China soccer World Cup final, which drew 90,185 spectators.
The record-breaking audience erupted in applause as the fourth-ranked Nebraska volleyball team entered the court on “Volleyball Day,” as the school named it.
With a perfect record, the Huskers (4-0) have sold out 306 consecutive regular-season games. Due to the fact that Wednesday’s game was not held on the team’s Bob Devaney Sports Centre court, it will not be included in the streak.
Prior to Wednesday, Nebraska’s match against Wisconsin in the NCA A final at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, in December 2021 drew an announced crowd of 18,755.
Nebraska quickly sold out of its 82,900 tickets after announcing its plans to break the record in April, but thousands more standing-room-only seats were later made available. Many more spectators could fit inside the stadium because just a portion of the football pitch was covered by the volleyball court.
Football stadium capacity is listed as 85,458.