Husker Win Big Ten Blood Drive Competition

he University of Nebraska–Lincoln has emerged victorious in the inaugural “We Give Blood Drive” competition, sponsored by the Big Ten Conference and global health care company Abbott.

The university accepted the trophy, as well as a $1 million check, during the Discover Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 7. The money will be used to advance student and community health at the university.

“There are many reasons I’m proud to be a Nebraskan, and this is one of them," said Dr. Jeffrey P. Gold, president of the University of Nebraska system. “As a cardiac surgeon, I have seen time and time again how important life-saving blood products can be, and as the president of the University of Nebraska, I’ve also seen firsthand the generosity of spirit and passion for helping others shared by so many of our students, faculty and staff. It doesn’t hurt that Nebraskans also really like to win.”

About 20,000 Big Ten students, alumni and fans across the country donated blood as part of the competition. With each donation saving up to three lives, the competition will help save as many as 60,000 lives. The donors did their part to help alleviate nationwide blood shortages and educate people about the need for blood while inspiring blood donations across the country. 

“These past few months, we’ve watched students across the Big Ten step up and commit to donating blood, many of them first-time donors," said Robert Ford, chairman and CEO of Abbott. “Our goal was to have a fun competition between schools to help address the largest blood shortage in a generation and create the next generation of blood donors. Big Ten students, alumni and fans rolled up their sleeves and did just that, saving tens of thousands of lives.”

“The We Give Blood Drive” aims to encourage young donors during a time when the nation is experiencing a major blood shortage. The rate of donors between ages 19 and 24 has dropped by nearly a third in recent years. More than half of donors to “The We Give Blood Drive” gave blood for the first time. 

Blood donations are needed for a wide variety of medical reasons, including trauma and accident victims, individuals receiving cancer treatment, mothers after childbirth and premature babies — such as Lincoln’s Genevieve Wright, now 9. During the first month of her life, she received multiple transfusions and constant blood products after being born with a rare condition called severe hydrops fetalis. Doctors said the infant had less than a 2% chance to survive. 

“Blood donation is imperative for so many, including my little girl who would not be here today without the generosity of countless Nebraskans who donated the blood that saved her life,” said Genevieve's mother, Shelly Wright. “These donations gave Genevieve the chance to grow, thrive and have a full life — and there isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not grateful for that.”

Tony Petitti, Big Ten Conference commissioner, thanked all the conference’s donors and congratulated Nebraska on winning the $1 million prize.

“Together, tens of thousands of lives will be saved,” he said. “We are all grateful to Abbott for their important work and for their partnership with the Big Ten Conference." 

The blood donation competition ran throughout the college football season, from Sept. 26 through Dec. 6, and will return for the 2025 football season. Donation totals were tracked live, and final results by school are available.

Participants donated blood on university campuses and at blood centers across the United States and uploaded proof of donation (or attempt to donate) to the campaign website to have their donation count toward their Big Ten school. All participants were entered into a sweepstakes to win two tickets to the Discover Big Ten Championship Game and received a free one-month subscription to B1G+, the conference’s streaming service.

	Big Ten University	Donors	Estimated Lives Saved
1	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	3,983	11,949
2	University of Wisconsin-Madison	2,016	6,048
3	University of Michigan	1,955	5,865
4	University of California, Los Angeles	1,535	4,605
5	The Ohio State University	1,420	4,260
6	University of Iowa	1,215	3,645
7	Michigan State University	1,015	3,045
8	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	937	2,811
9	Indiana University Bloomington	886	2,658
10	Purdue University	847	2,541
11	University of Minnesota, Twin Cities	831	2,493
12	Pennsylvania State University	740	2,220
13	University of Washington	613	1,839
14	University of Oregon	538	1,614
15	Northwestern University	470	1,410
16	Rutgers University	366	1,098
17	University of Southern California	308	924
18	University of Maryland, College Park	146	438
			TOTAL 59,463