It was announced on Thursday that The 1890 Initiative will receive a "groundbreaking" contribution from Nebraska Crossing, the shopping center in Gretna, which will provide $5 million over the next 10 years to support NIL for Husker volleyball student-athletes.
"Thank you to the Nebraska Crossing team for this generous gift to 1890 in support of Husker Volleyball," NU head coach Jon Cook said in a statement in the announcement release. "Your vision for NIL is a game changer for Husker volleyball and will propel our program for years to come."
Rod Yates, a former Husker football player in the 80s, is the founder of Nebraska Crossing and JUSTDATA, a company which according to the press release is looking "to remake college athletics by leveraging financial technologies" and is also in the process of negotiating with the top 25 college athletics programs in the country.
"JUSTDATA is working with collectives supporting student athletes at the University of Nebraska and Purdue University, given the founders connection with these athletic programs," the press release further states. "Last year Nebraska Crossing and JUSTDATA announced a partnership with Drew Brees as a strategic investor and partner in both Nebraska Crossing and JUSTDATA."
Husker volleyball is certainly a major draw in this state, and the biggest draw ever is just about to come. Memorial Stadium is sold out for a Volleyball Day event on Aug. 30 for fans turning out to watch the Huskers play.
“Title IX has created a monster — the North Star of volleyball in the state of Nebraska and what a great way to celebrate it by bringing everybody together,” said Huskers athletics director Trev Alberts of that upcoming event, adding, “I need to acknowledge that we hope that tone of the outcomes of celebrating our volleyball programs in the state of Nebraska is that we once and for all establish the all-time attendance record for volleyball. The attendance record for the volleyball belongs in the state of Nebraska…we’re going to do this once and I want to hope that the number is large enough that nobody dares to attack our all-time record.”
Thursday seemed like a day of momentum for Husker volleyball.
On the same day of the NIL contribution announcement, the Huskers also picked up a volleyball commitment from 6-2 right-side hitter Ryan Hunter (Charlotte, N.C.), who will be a junior in high school this year and is ranked No. 17 among recruits in her class, according to PrepVolleyball.com
As for the JUSTDATA/Nebraska Crossing partnership with the Nebraska-based 1890 Initiative collective, Yates said in the announcement, “Nebraska and Purdue are special places and continually produce world-class student athletes for us to recruit. In our view, there was no better place to build and grow a company than in ‘Big 10 Country’ and creating new fintech technologies in an ecosystem platform will bring more attention to what is happening right here in Nebraska.”
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