User:KieranP99/College Football

Consumption of College Football
Modern College Football has existed since 1958, and has slowly grown into one of the most consumed sports in the United States since then. Attendance Numbers and TV viewership have grown steadily since this period steadily, and has turned the game into what it is today.

Attendance:
In 1958, NCAA Football games were averaging 7,213 fans in the stands at each game. At this time it was the highest in history, up 5.41% from the previous year, which at the time was the highest recorded increase in attendance from year to year. This number continued to rise steadily during the golden areas of American consumption in the 1950's and 60's, and did not record a dip in attendance until 1974, when attendance numbers per game decreased by .15% from 1973. The numbers continued to rise all the way until 2009, when they peaked at 48,839,003 total game attendees, and an average of 13,982 fans at every game. Since 2009, Attendance at college football games has been declining steadily. The most recent attendance figures place college football's total attendance at 47,537,702 total attendees, with 12,586 fans at every game, on average.

Ratings:
Despite initial fears from the NCAA that broadcasting the games would decrease attendance, the NCAA began to gradually relax regulation on the broadcasting of games after seeing that watching games on TV was just as popular as attending them. In 1951, only 1 game was allowed to be broadcast a week because of this fear, but as they relaxed the regulation that number gradually grew to 89 games a year televised. In 1984, the NCAA was sued in the case NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, where the Supreme Court found the NCAA in violation of the Sherman anti-trust act and forced them to allow schools to sign their own broadcast deals. After this, the floodgates opened and there were over 200 games broadcast the following year. The market initially slumped due to over saturation, but soon fully recovered. In the Modern Era, The college football championship ranks in the top 10 most watched TV programs in the US, with multiple different games throughout the top 100.