Ask anyone in Nebraska, and they’ll vouch that volleyball is easily one of the most popular sports in the state. Thanks to the Cornhuskers’ domination on the court, volleyball has been enjoying its heyday at the collegiate level for quite some time. However, it seems like the ongoing VNL 2025 isn’t able to tap into the large fanbase despite the massive growth of the sport in the NCAA scene in recent months.
After the first two weeks in Brazil and Serbia, the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2025 has finally returned to home soil for the third week of the international volleyball tournament. And, unsurprisingly, the host country is looking like every bit of the reigning Olympic silver medalist it is. Unfortunately, though, there aren’t many fans to witness the triumphs firsthand.
The VNL 2025 action is unfolding in Arlington, Texas. In the first two matches against Thailand and the Dominican Republic, the USA Volleyball won both with a solid 3-1 margin. But the on-court elation was overshadowed by poor turnout numbers at the UT Arlington College Park Center. As per a post by Avid on X from July 11, the VNL isn’t reaping the benefits of the sport’s post-COVID popularity.
“It’s wild that there’s been so much growth in the support of volleyball post-covid…. participation at all time highs, NCAA VB attendance/views records… yet the national team gets no benefits from that, attendance is down in VNL,” laments the social media update, while claiming that poor marketing on the USA Volleyball’s part could be the reason behind such shambolic numbers. To prove the point, Avid also shared past attendance records from previous volleyball games. According to the attached screenshot, the VNL 2025 records are nowhere close to the numbers Lincoln, Nebraska, recorded back in 2019.
It’s wild that there’s been so much growth in the support of volleyball post-covid…. participation at all time highs, NCAA VB attendance/views records…
yet the national team gets no benefits from that, attendance is down in VNL… no marketing.. poor decisions from USAV/VBW pic.twitter.com/ZtsINkH8lt
— Avid (@AvidVolley) July 10, 2025
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