Husker volleyball team changing how women’s sports is televised

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Women’s volleyball is often overshadowed by traditional televised sports, but with the Huskers eyeing their sixth championship, there’s a growing recognition of women’s sports.

Ten years ago, women’s volleyball gained little national exposure, according to John Shrader, a sports media associate professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

But that has changed.

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Nebraska is one of the most successful programs in the country, now chasing a sixth championship, and with it, an opportunity to shine a spotlight on women’s sports.

Shrader thinks that attention could literally change the game.

“Clearly, volleyball at the University of Nebraska is not quite the same experience as it is at many other places,” Shrader said. “But across the country, volleyball has exploded in the past decade, and that’s partly because of the attention that’s been given to it, partly because of the way it’s been resourced. The television networks have learned over the past decade, especially over the past four or five years that if they put in resources and the promotions, people will actually watch.”

While the sport is growing in popularity in the collegiate athletics world, how it’s televised is still catching up.

“In the last few years, women’s sports has been better financed, better resourced, and when they put in more cameras and more operators and they put in more announcers and spend more time broadcasting it, people like it.”

As the championship approaches, experts believe the Huskers’ success could generate a change in how women’s volleyball and women’s sports more broadly televised in the future.

“Clearly, Nebraska draws an audience,” Shrader said. “And if you watched the game on Sunday afternoon between Nebraska and Wisconsin, the production was very high quality, the sound was great, it felt like a big event.”

He said the Huskers’ journey is about more than just a trophy.

It’s about breaking barriers, setting new standards and inspiring future generations of athletes.