Nebraska volleyball is on pace to break the all-time global record for attendance at a women's sporting event.
And, if the Cornhuskers achieve the momentous feat, they'll take down a global soccer superpower as collateral damage.
Head coach John Cook and his fourth-ranked squad are expected to welcome north of 90,000 spectators at Memorial Stadium — the school's football arena — as Nebraska hosts the Omaha Mavericks Wednesday night.
The current attendance record for a women's sporting event in the United States is held by the US Women's National Team, which hosted 90,185 raucous fans at the Rose Bowl as Brandi Chastain converted her now-legendary penalty kick to beat China and win the 1999 World Cup. FC Barcelona's women's team set the international mark with a whopping 91,648 supporters flocking to Camp Nou for its 2022 UEFA Women's Champions League match against Wolfsburg.
Though Memorial Stadium has a listed capacity of 85,458, the Lincoln, Nebraska, venue has welcomed more than 91,000 fans on several occasions for football games. The undefeated volleyball team has already sold more than 90,000 tickets and will offer additional standing-room-only options to surpass the current records.
The Cornhuskers drew inspiration to break the record through their longstanding rivalry with the Wisconsin Badgers. Though the two volleyball powerhouses share the all-time attendance record for an NCAA volleyball match from their 2021 national championship bout, the Badgers narrowly edged out Nebraska for the regular-season record with 16,833 fans watching their matchup against Florida last September.
"Wisconsin, being as competitive as they are, went and took one of our attendance records away," Cook told Big Ten Network ahead of the match. "So we're like, 'How are we going to get it back?'"
"There's not a facility big enough in Nebraska to get that back, except for Memorial Stadium," he added.
Cook said he had doubts that the Cornhuskers could pull it off at first, even despite the team having sold out every single home match since 2001. But fans of the five-time national champions vastly exceeded the longtime coach's expectations, and now, they're eyeing history.
"It's hard to even imagine that this is gonna happen," Cook said. "It's a huge celebration and an attempt to break the attendance record — and maybe one that will never be broken."
Nebraska's historic matchup against Omaha begins at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. local time) Wednesday. Fans at home can tune in to watch on Big Ten Network.
