College football TV viewership 2017-18
The end-of-season matchup of in-state rivals The University of Alabama and Auburn University ranked as the most viewed college football game of the 2017-18 season, drawing in around 13.66 million viewers. Each of these two teams played in many of the season’s ten most watched games, and South Eastern Conference teams featured on the ranking more times than any other conference.
College football as an industry
Despite the fact that college football is technically not a professional sport, its television ratings, sponsorship numbers and team earnings would seem to indicate otherwise. Year after year, the league’s playoff and championship games are among the most watched sporting events in the United States. The sport boasts many of the largest stadiums in the entire world, dwarfing those of even the biggest professional sports clubs and attracting tens of millions of fans each season. Unpaid student athletes generate impressive revenues for their respective colleges and universities, with teams such as the Texas Longhorns, Alabama Crimson Tide and Tennessee Volunteers earning tens of millions of dollars each year.
College football as an industry
Despite the fact that college football is technically not a professional sport, its television ratings, sponsorship numbers and team earnings would seem to indicate otherwise. Year after year, the league’s playoff and championship games are among the most watched sporting events in the United States. The sport boasts many of the largest stadiums in the entire world, dwarfing those of even the biggest professional sports clubs and attracting tens of millions of fans each season. Unpaid student athletes generate impressive revenues for their respective colleges and universities, with teams such as the Texas Longhorns, Alabama Crimson Tide and Tennessee Volunteers earning tens of millions of dollars each year.
