NCAA President Charlie Baker sees Nebraska event as proof volleyball is ‘fast-growing’ sport

“Johnny Rodgers gave me nightmares,” the new NCAA president quipped Wednesday afternoon. “He caught and ran that insane punt return. Every guy on the OU punt team had a shot at him. Every one. And they couldn’t get him.”

The 66-year-old — governor of Massachusetts until January — knows his Husker football. Told Ndamukong Suh donated money to NU’s weight room, Baker remarked “he was a hell of a college football player.” The 1984 Orange Bowl between Nebraska and Miami was a “fistfight, one end to the other” of “two different styles of play.”

Baker even knew of Nebraska’s recent struggles to close games, noting that new Husker coach Matt Rhule “has a good track record.”

So does Husker volleyball — the team that drew Baker’s attendance on Wednesday for Volleyball Day in Nebraska. The success of the event in Memorial Stadium, Baker said, is a byproduct of the state’s support for college athletics and the excellence of volleyball in the state.

“It’s extraordinary how much talent there is in Nebraska in volleyball,” Baker said. “And when there’s that much talent, that means there’s terrific school programs and great youth programs. You’ve got all kinds of moms and dads who pay a lot of attention to the sport to begin with. You combine that with all the friends of the moms and dads, and everybody else — and you’re in a place that cares a lot about sports — and they’re very competitive.

“You add it all up: It’s a great day for volleyball, which is an incredibly fast-growing and mind-bogglingly popular sport.”

That growing popularity could mean a better media rights deal for the collegiate sport. The NCAA goes out to bid its TV contracts for every championship but men’s basketball, and Baker said media rights holders and corporate sponsors are “very interested in the volleyball package.”

Could volleyball get its own media rights deal separate of smaller, less-watched NCAA championships like lacrosse and track and field?

“I’ve said from the beginning that I’m not going to give anybody any indication at all who’s on the buy side, about what my intent is,” Baker said. “My intent is to do the absolute best we possibly can on behalf of all the sports that are in the bundle. But women’s sports in particular — volleyball, softball, gymnastics, basketball — they’ve all shown enormous growth in both attendance and viewership over the last couple of years.

“I think there’s a really big opportunity here. I also think the growth of youth sports in volleyball is intense.”

Baker said he’s gone into cities where there are over 1,000 volleyball players, 15 to 18 years old, as part of a big tournament that starts on Friday and runs through the weekend.

“I think this sport is gonna explode,” Baker said. Nebraska’s ability to sell so many tickets in the opening 48 hours for an outdoor volleyball match is proof.

“That doesn’t just happen for anything,” Baker said. “Could you sell 82,000 Super Bowl? Probably could. You’ve got to get into gigantic events to make the comparison.”