The University of Wisconsin-Madison continues to portray itself as a “men’s sports school” even though Wisconsin women’s sports outplay men’s sports time and time again.

Just looking at this 2022-2023 school year, you can compare the women’s sports versus men’s sports and see. Here are statistics for some of the most popular women’s and men’s sports at Madison in the 2022-2023 seasons:

Wisconsin Football (7-6) 0.538
Wisconsin Men’s Basketball (20-15) 0.571
Wisconsin Men’s Hockey (13-23) 0.361

Wisconsin Women’s Hockey (29-10-2) 0.756 (including a National Championship)
Wisconsin Volleyball (28-4) 0.875

Now, I am not trying to say that all Wisconsin men’s sports suck. I am just using this information to try to prove why Wisconsin volleyball belongs in the Kohl Center. 

Although this is mainly about Wisconsin volleyball playing in the Kohl Center, I would also like to add that Wisconsin women’s hockey has also proven itself worthy of playing in the Kohl Center. They just won their 7th National Championship, the most National Championships in all of NCAA women’s hockey, and are more than deserving.

Back to Wisconsin volleyball.

The average number of fans that come to Wisconsin volleyball games is 7,540 over their 15 regular season games, ranking second in attendance among all Division 1 volleyball programs. Also, when they did get the chance to play at the Kohl Center, the girls set the regular-season NCAA attendance record of 16,833 fans. This also happened to be the 15th largest amount ever to watch a college volleyball match. This could never happen in the Field House due to capacity being at 12,000 whereas the Kohl Center capacity is 17,230.

Wisconsin Volleyball also has an amazing track record, as they have been in the Elite Eight 13 times since 1997. They were the Big 10 Champions this season, their fourth consecutive year earning that title.

Then, in 2021, Wisconsin volleyball became National Champions!

As a student, I can attest that one of the main reasons that many people do not attend the volleyball games in the Field House is that it is a much further walk. Although some people do live near the Field House, the Kohl Center is much closer for most students and is located in a much more central area. 

I believe that if Wisconsin volleyball played in the Kohl Center it would raise attendance even more, and be an amazing experience as sell-out crowds at the Field House help the Wisconsin volleyball team power through the teams that they play. 

Wisconsin volleyball surely has both the season record and career records to show that they deserve to play in the Kohl Center. So why don’t they? 

Some may argue that there is not enough time, as other teams already play there and need the space. But men’s basketball and men’s hockey play there at the same time – and actually have on the same day before – while women’s volleyball would only overlap for about a month of the men’s basketball season. So, I’m sure they could make it work. 

If after reading this article you still do not believe Wisconsin volleyball has proven that they should play in the Kohl Center, why should they not? What makes these men’s sports so much better? 

I, along with many others, think Wisconsin volleyball deserves this chance.