Nebraska Volleyball Tops $3M in Ticket Sales but Doesn't Turn a Profit in 2024-25

The Huskers ran a deficit for the third time since moving to the Devaney Center as expenses rose to above $7 million.

Laney Choboy, Lexi Rodriguez and Harper Murray exit the floor during the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The Huskers finished 33-3 on the season, but the program didn't turn a profit, the first time that has happened in a non-pandemic year since 2013-14. | Amarillo Mullen

For the first time since 2014 (except for when a pandemic was happening), Nebraska volleyball did not turn a profit. 

According to financial documents submitted to the NCAA for fiscal year 2025, NU volleyball recorded a $1.38 million deficit. The financial reports cover the 2024 season for the Huskers, who finished 33-3, won the Big Ten championship and reached the national semifinals. 

Previously, the program lost $1.85 million in FY21, when the season was moved to the spring and fans were unable to attend matches. The only other time the Huskers didn’t turn a profit while hosting matches in the Devaney Center was in FY2014, when they lost $156,609. 

Overall, the NU Athletic Department ended the year with a profit of $7,345,119, up $635,745 from the previous year. 

Nebraska has turned a profit almost every year it has played in the Devaney Center. The only exceptions are the first season in 2013, the spring of 2021 when fans could not attend, and the most recent fiscal year. The fiscal years cover the 12 months ending on June 30 of the years designated above. | Lincoln Arneal

Volleyball revenues dropped by $1.6 million for the 2024 season, mainly due to the absence of Volleyball Day in Nebraska, which drew 92,003 people to a 2023 match at Memorial Stadium. The record-breaking event brought in $1.4 million to the athletic department. 

For FY25, ticket revenue increased to $3.2 million for the 2024 season, helping offset some of the loss of income. For the 2023 season, the Huskers earned $2.57 million in ticket revenue. According to Sportico’s college sports finance database, only seven non-football/men’s basketball programs generated more than $3.2 million in tickets in FY24. 

The program also collected $1.38 in program and concession revenue, down nearly $400,000 from the previous year. Nebraska also received $637,662 in media rights and $166,387 in NCAA distributions. 

While volleyball’s revenue was down, the primary driver of the operating loss was higher expenses. NU spent more than $7 million in FY25 to run the program. In the previous fiscal year, the Huskers’ volleyball expenses totaled $5.91 million. 

John Cook was paid $1,329,192 in what turned out to be his final year in his 25-year run coaching the Huskers. Assistant coaches earned $417,775 and an additional $162,475 for the beach season. The support staff, including sport-specific administration, was paid another $351,297.

Head coach John Cook watches the Huskers' pregame warmups during the 2024 NCAA Tournament. During his final year at Nebraska, Cook was paid $1.3 million. | Amarillo Mullen

NU spent $551,809 to cover 12.8 scholarships for the season. Nebraska, which charters flights to its away matches in the Big Ten, spent just under $1 million for team travel. 

In addition, overhead more than doubled to over $1 million; non-travel meals increased to $272,462; and Nebraska paid $410,025 in coaching bonuses for team performance. The game expenses decreased from $1.1 million to 378,723, which might have come from not having to create a volleyball court inside a football stadium. 

NU also paid $80,730 in enhanced educational benefits to student-athletes, a benefit permitted for the first time under the Alston lawsuit settlement. 

Nebraska’s beach volleyball team cost $265,553, almost all of which was coaching salaries and team travel, to operate while generating just over $4,000 in revenue. Nebraska is the only Division I program that exclusively uses indoor players for its beach program, thereby eliminating scholarship costs. Including the beach program, the volleyball program ran a deficit of $1,641,304.

Volleyball’s revenues were the third highest of any sport at Nebraska, trailing only football ($124 million) and men’s basketball ($18.6 million). Those two are the only programs at Nebraska that turned a profit.

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