Women's athletics has taken an impressive turn in the last few years towards not simply Title IX exposure but genuine excitement for the programs that find success. Winning matters both in male and female sports and fans will be drawn to it. Sportico came out with a list of the top money-earning women's college programs, and Wisconsin volleyball made the top three.
UConn women's basketball and Nebraska women's volleyball are the two women's college teams to eclipse $2 million in ticket sales for the most recent season in our @Sportico database pic.twitter.com/77U9DUgQLd
— Lev Akabas (@LevAkabas) January 16, 2025
Wisconsin volleyball is one of the top-grossing ticket sales in women's athletics.
According to Sportico, Wisconsin volleyball made 1.54 million in ticket sales for the 2022-2023 season. It was potentially even stronger for this last season and was only second to Nebraska in volleyball. This is an impressive amount of money for any women's athletic representation. Plenty of men's programs around the country generate less than this amount.
This success of Badgers volleyball has led the new women's professional volleyball league to put a team in Madison, Wisconsin. Hoping to draw and generate buzz from the already-built fanbase and interest in the sport.
With the hope of connecting to local fan base, widely recognized for its support of the Badgers, familiar players (Lauren Carlini and Sarah Franklin) join forces with Charlie's dad (Matt Fuerbringer) to introduce professional volleyball (LOVB) to Madison.https://t.co/ikHxoEqlxk
— Mike Lucas (@LucasAtLarge) January 17, 2025
The future of even professional women's athletics is even being decided by the fan support of Badgers women's volleyball. This is big news for a fanbase that has rallied around a very good product the last decade. Wisconsin has established itself as one of the best volleyball colleges in the country and, because of that, has created Madison as a volleyball city.
Head coach Kelly Sheffield isn't slowing down anytime soon and has recently added one of the top outside hitters in the country via the transfer portal from the Oregon Ducks. He and his staff also added four highly touted high school recruits and are even looking at some other top transfers. With the loss of graduating players such as Sarah Franklin, mentioned above, it's not a rebuild for Sheffield it is a reload.