Big Ten Volleyball Fans Sell Out Inaugural Tournament Tickets Instantly

The Big Ten Volleyball fans have been waiting for this moment.

The top 15 teams in the regular-season standings will qualify for the Big Ten Volleyball Tournament, / Purdue Athletics

When you host an NCAA Division I college volleyball tournament, the fans will show up. 

The Big Ten Conference is ushering in a new era of college volleyball in 2026, with the inaugural Big Ten Volleyball Tournament set for November 20-25, 2026, at the Fishers Event Center in Fishers, Ind. 

As it turns out, the Midwest had been dying for this moment. Presale and initial on-sale Tickets for all sessions went on sale on Aug. 3 and were sold out by Aug. 6. The conference announced that single-session tickets will be available for purchase at a later date. 

Danggggggg y’all really wanted this Tourney huh???🤯 https://t.co/mhXeEElQ20

— Emily Ehman (@emilyehman) August 6, 2026

The top 15 teams in the regular-season standings will qualify for the tournament, and the regular-season schedule will be reduced from 20 to 17 matches to accommodate it. 

Three matches will be played in the opening round of the tournament, followed by four second-round matches. The competition will move through the quarterfinals and semifinals, with the championship match set for November 25. 

Selection Sunday will immediately follow on Nov. 29, with the NCAA Tournament set to begin on Dec. 3.

“For the first time in its history, the Big Ten Conference will determine its volleyball champion with a postseason tournament featuring the best volleyball teams in the country,” Big Ten Conference commissioner Tony Petitti said in a press release. “We look forward to bringing the nation’s top talent together for an entire week of exhilarating competition culminating in the crowning of the inaugural Big Ten Volleyball Tournament Champion.” 

The Big Ten Tournament will be here before we know it! Who do you think will walk away with the first-ever Big Ten Volleyball Tournament title?

Full Video: https://t.co/YzGlgR2jiN pic.twitter.com/9vZIA7IrvM

— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) August 10, 2026

So why did it take so long for the Big Ten to adopt a volleyball tournament? The sport is rapidly growing, and the viewership proves it. Current Big Ten volleyball schools have combined for 22 NCAA national titles, winning 12 of the last 20. 

Eight of the nine most-watched college volleyball matches of all time have featured Big Ten teams, and six different Big Ten regular-season matches last season earned an audience of more than 500,000 on three different networks. 

The Nebraska Cornhuskers may be the best volleyball representative of the Big Ten right now. The  2025 season saw the most-watched regular-season matchup ever on ESPN as Nebraska defeated Kentucky, with 1.2 million viewers tuning in. The Cornhuskers set the previous record in August 2025 when 596,000 viewers watched them defeat Stanford in straight sets on ESPN. 

“I’m really excited,” Nebraska head coach Dani Busboom Kelly told Hurrdat Sports during Big Ten Media Day. “I think it’s going to prepare our team to have a different mindset going into the NCAA Tournament. It’s going to be hard to win the Big Ten tournament playing at least three games in a row, back to back to back. It’s something we’ve never done before, so I think it’ll be awesome, and I’m really looking forward to it. I think the timing’s great. We have a long break going into the NCAA Tournament, so I think it should help the league overall.”

Nebraska made history in 2023 when it hosted the largest attendance ever recorded for a women’s sporting event (92,003) at the outdoor volleyball event at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. The inaugural Spikes Under the Lights featuring Nebraska has the opportunity to go even further as AT&T Stadium holds 100,000 people.

Why the Fishers Event Center? 

The Fishers Event Center, just outside of Indianapolis, Ind., is the home of the Major League Volleyball (MLV) team, the Indy Ignite. The venue opened in 2024 and holds 7,500 fans. 

Indianapolis has continuously hosted Big Ten Tournaments and NCAA Championships, including football, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, and women’s basketball in 2025, while the Big Ten Rowing Championships commenced in May 2026.

"This fall, our city will become the epicenter of Big Ten women’s volleyball as many of the nation’s top programs come together in one venue for the first time,” Fishers mayor Scott Fadness said in a press release. “We can’t wait to welcome passionate fans and outstanding student-athletes to Fishers for what promises to be an incredible showcase of the sport.”