Women's college volleyball is back, and with it are skyrocketing viewership and attendance numbers. After a record-breaking 2023, the 2024 season is poised to hit even higher numbers for both individual programs and on the national level. The increased attention towards NCAA volleyball is not a fluke; instead, it is a result of the growth women's sports saw over the year at the collegiate level. Volleyball's strong start to the season is more proof that women's college sports are not only here to stay but that they're also growing.

Women's college sports had a tremendous year in 2023. According to Nielsen, viewership for the 2024 NCAA women's basketball championship game was "up over 90%, compared with the viewers that watched in 2023, and over 288% compared with the 2022 audience." But beyond basketball and the "Caitlin Clark effect," other NCAA women's sports saw their numbers rise. College volleyball saw both its attendance and viewership numbers rise all season. This growth resulted in a record-breaking attendance – 19,727 fans – at the championship match in Tampa in Dec. 2023. Per the NCAA, approximately 1.7 million people watched the match on TV, representing a "115% increase from last year's championship match's viewership." 

NCAA softball also reached new troves of viewers and fans in 2024. According to ESPN, the NCAA Women's College World Series Finals "drew over 2 million viewers," a 24 increase in viewership from 2023. 2024 also saw an increase in female viewership, up to 44% from 40% in 2023. 

2023 was a banner year for volleyball – three of the top six most-attended NCAA women's volleyball matches took place last year. In December 2023, 19,727 fans showed up to the NCAA championship, and 19,589 fans cheered at the semifinals shortly beforehand. And, of course, who could forget the 92,003 fans who spectated Nebraska's game against Omaha on August 30 of last year? 

And the sport's hot start to the 2024 season is a sign that this trend is not slowing down. Per the Associated Press, ESPN's late-August coverage of the AVCA Showcase match between Nebraska and Kentucky drew 344,000 viewers, "making it the second most-watched live regular-season volleyball match to air on ESPN's various platforms." Early viewership is already high, with 548,000 people watching Texas vs Wisconsin on FOX. In response to increased attention, NBC and ABC will broadcast NCAA games this season, including the finals (on ABC). The Big Ten is the conference with the most to gain from increased air time, as it will have 83 matches televised this season, up from 53 in 2021. 

Attendance records are already occurring at individual programs this year, too. On September 3, 6,773 fans gathered in Moody Coliseum, the volleyball arena of Southern Methodist University, to watch the Mustangs stun the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The record-setting crowd was about 5,000 more than the program's previous record, according to the North Platte Telegraph. 

SMU Athletics

A record-setting crowd also came out to support Tennessee in the Lady Vols' season opener against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Friday, August 30. Per the University of Tennessee, the crowd of 6,193 fans "shattered the previous record of 3,376 against Kentucky" in Oct. 2021. 

Of course, the growth of youth girls sports helps these games flourish at the collegiate level, too. Sports like basketball and soccer have owned the youth girls sports space for a while, but other sports, like volleyball, are on the rise. As reported by the Associated Press, the number of girls high school volleyball players in the 2022-23 school year hit an "all-time high of 470,488," according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. This is compared to the roughly 394,000 girls playing high school soccer and approximately 400,000 girls playing high school basketball, per Graydi.

Until about twenty years ago, basketball and soccer offered dramatically more opportunities for girls. But now, per the AP, "the number of junior clubs registered with USA Volleyball has nearly doubled, rising from 1,750 in 2004-05 to 3,880 in 2023-24." The confluence of volleyball's growing popularity with the 2024 Olympic Games also brought the sport some acceleration. Per Olson, "The increased participation has coincided with the United States' emergence as a world power in the sport. Team USA has medaled in five straight Olympics, including gold in 2020 and silver this year in Paris." The rising numbers of young girls participating in sports, as well as the excitement generated by the Olympics and other tournaments, is helping to rapidly accelerate interest in and momentum for volleyball and other women's sports at the collegiate level.

Women's collegiate sports are experiencing unprecedented growth. This, however, won't come without challenges. It's going to be hard for the NCAA to replicate a season like that of 2023-24, when Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, JuJu Watkins, Paige Bueckers, and others brought basketball tremendous attention and respect it had never seen before. Additionally, women's soccer still struggles to generate interest at the collegiate level. Though soccer has long been the most participated in sport for young girls, the lagging viewership and attendance may have to do with the fact that soccer has never been a massively popular spectator sport in America. Additionally, as conferences shake out their media deals with broadcasters, some fare better than others. In NCAA volleyball, for example, beyond the Big Ten, other conferences are still struggling to strike the media deals they desire and get enough games on television. 

But make no mistake: 2023 was not a fluke, and women's college sports have staying power. And if it's for any onereason, let it be this one – they are thrilling. The media deals, Olympic attention, rising number of youth participants, and other factors are facilitating the growth of women's college sports and bringing them much-needed attention and notoriety. But perhaps what might truly accelerate the games to the screens of millions of televisions is that the skill level and competition are just as intense, if not more so, than any other sports that regular fans are used to watching. 

"I think people are very passionate," Wisconsin volleyball middle blocker Carter Booth told Steve Megargee of the Associated Press when asked about why she thinks attendance and interest is growing. "We just never really had the platform to get it out there. If you like sports for the thrill of it all – because anything can happen – womens games are waiting for you.