Volleyball Day in Nebraska generates $6.7 million in economic impact
Nebraska Volleyball broke the world attendance record and sparked an economic boom
Last Wednesday, Nebraska volleyball broke the world record for attendance at a women's sporting event. A total of 92,003 fans showed up for the Volleyball Day in Nebraska event to watch two highly-contested games. The economic impact of the event was also massive with a total of $6,757,252 being spent on local hotels, restaurants, and ground-based transportation:
Accommodation: $1,728,552
Transportation: $1,164,574
Restaurants: $3,864,126
The event took place at the University of Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium, where the “sea of red” made waves when the Nebraska Huskers defeated Omaha in the second match. But the excitement doesn’t end there – there are two more major events predicted to be taking place at Memorial Stadium later this month, this time in the men’s football category:
Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on Saturday, September 23 with 85,000 predicted attendees
Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, September 30 with 85,000 predicted attendees
As predicted events, both of these football games are currently pending confirmation. Be sure to bookmark the links to check back later as once they’re confirmed, these events become active – meaning details like predicted event spend, start time, and predicted end times will be verified and the event pages will be automatically updated.
Women’s sports viewership is on the rise
With a record 518,000 fans watching on their TV screens, Big Ten Network's broadcast of Volleyball Day in Nebraska was the highest viewed non-conference volleyball event in the network's history. The broadcast was also ranked number two of all-time regular season NCAA Volleyball audiences across all networks.
Also setting a new record for college volleyball attendance, the success of Volleyball Day is an immense boost for women's sports which could lead to more schools across the country hosting similar events.
In fact, it was last year after Wisconsin set a regular-season attendance record for a volleyball game, when the Nebraska coach and athletic director came up with the idea to host their volleyball games at Memorial Stadium, University of Nebraska's football stadium.
The growing excitement from the players, coaches, and the fans around not only volleyball, but women’s sports across the board can be seen globally:
The 2023 NCAA Women's College Basketball Final drew in 10 million viewers, a 103% increase from the previous year
Viewership for the 2023 WNBA Draft grew by 42% year over year, and increased by 89% among female viewers
Interest this year in the Barclays Women's Super League increased 81% year over year
This year, 41% of the global population are excited for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, up from 34% just before the 2019 installation of the event
Advertisers are taking notice, with women’s professional sports sponsorships growing 20% year over year in 2022. Last fall was also a major turning point with the launch of the Women’s Sports Network, the first network ever to focus on female athletes.
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