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The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan
The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Iowa women’s basketball guard Caitlin Clark reacts to Nebraska women’s sports attendance record

The reaction comes just over a month away from Iowa women’s basketball’s own attempt to shatter an attendance record with its Crossover at Kinnick event.
Colin Votzmeyer, Assistant Sports Editor
September 1, 2023
Daniel McGregor-Huyer
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark and Iowa center Monika Czinano celebrate after a victory over No.6 Colorado at the 2023 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA on March 24, 2023.

The Nebraska women’s volleyball team set the world record for attendance at a women’s sporting event on Wednesday — and it caught the attention of women’s sports pioneer and Iowa women’s basketball senior guard Caitlin Clark.

Over 92,000 fans gathered in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, for “Volleyball Day in Nebraska” to watch the Cornhuskers’ women’s volleyball team match up against the University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks.

The event, which beat the prior world record of 91,648 attendees set by a Champions League match between FC Barcelona and Wolfsburg, included the Cornhuskers walking out to the court from the tunnel alongside head coach John Cook.

A video of the entrance was posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, which Clark retweeted on Wednesday with her impression with the entrance.

Clark’s reaction comes amid Iowa women’s basketball’s own “Crossover at Kinnick” event, which the team will host the DePaul Blue Demons for an exhibition game inside Kinnick Stadium at 3 p.m. on Oct. 15.

The exhibition game will occur on a basketball court constructed inside of the stadium on the north half of the field.

But Clark’s massive draw to Iowa women’s basketball — because of her breakout season last year leading the Hawkeyes to a runner-up finish in the 2023 NCAA Championship game — has set eyes on Iowa City to break a different women’s sports attendance record.

The Iowa women’s basketball team ranked second in attendance in the 2022 season, averaging 11,143 fans per game inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Now, the Hawkeyes are on pace to crush the 29,619-person attendance record for a single women’s basketball game set by Connecticut and Oklahoma in the 2002 NCAA Championship game.

Reserved seats for the “Crossover at Kinnick,” which fill almost the entire north half of the stadium, are sold out. General admission seats, which occupy the south half of the stadium, remain available.

All together, almost 40,000 tickets have been purchased out of the 69,250 seats the stadium holds.

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