AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Longhorns volleyball team was part of history in multiple ways when they claimed its second consecutive national championship Sunday.
Not only did they capture the program’s fifth title with a dominant 3-0 victory over Nebraska, but by playing in the game, they made television history by participating in the most-watched college volleyball match in history.
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According to ESPNPR, the Longhorns-Cornhuskers title tilt averaged 1.7 million viewers and peaked at 2.1 million on ABC, an increase of 115% year-over-year and 151% in female viewership in the same time frame. Approximately 51% of the viewership was female, ESPNPR said. It was the first time the national championship match was aired on a national network available over the air.
The 3 p.m. ET start time for the match was sandwiched in between the usual 1 p.m. ET and 4:35 p.m. ET NFL games on Fox and CBS. In October, Fox aired Big 10 Conference women’s volleyball featuring Wisconsin-Minnesota and Ohio State-Michigan around NFL games and the broadcast window for both matches averaged 1.659 million viewers, a record at the time.
In-person attendance at Amalie Arena in Tampa was also record-breaking at 19,729, making it the highest-attended indoor NCAA volleyball match ever. The national semifinals and championship will be held at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky next year, and it has a capacity of just over 22,000 people, so perhaps next season a new record will be set.
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