College football TV viewership 2017-18
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.