Women’s College Sports Packed in Big Crowds in 2023

It was a monumental year for taking NCAA events to the gridiron, starting with Nebraska volleyball’s record-setting match in August.

Fans in Nebraska love to fill Memorial Stadium in Lincoln to cheer on a winner. 

Given the state of the football program, though, Huskers backers have had to settle for just filling Memorial Stadium. Nebraska hasn’t made an appearance in the season-ending top 25 since 2012. And even the whole “filling the stadium” thing is kind of a myth. The football program has a 396-game sellout streak, but that counts tickets sold. Last year’s game against Wisconsin had 46,613 fans, a far cry from the announced crowd of 86,068.

Nebraska packed 92,003 fans into Memorial Stadium for a volleyball match in August / Getty Images

So what does a Huskers fan looking to back a dominant program in a raucous environment do? Wait for the volleyball team to make its Memorial debut. On Aug. 30, Nebraska—which was ranked No. 4 in the country—drew 92,003 fans for its win over Omaha. The mark is widely accepted as the largest confirmed crowd ever to see a women’s sporting event.

The Huskers weren’t the only women’s team to venture onto the gridiron. Six weeks later, Iowa’s hoops team held an exhibition against DePaul at Kinnick Stadium that drew 55,646 fans. Said Caitlin Clark, who had a triple double for the Hawkeyes, “The amount of people screaming for us kind of takes your breath away.”