by Drew Woodson

Created on: December 28, 2008

College football season, with all-day tailgates, multi-million dollar TV deals, and rabid fans has earned the right to call itself a big time sport even if it lacks the glitz and polish of professional leagues. The popularity of college football can be explained by three powerful factors: frequency, proximity, loyalty. Media outlets, eager to make money from this popularity have made college footbal the most covered inter-collegiate sport.

While most college football teams cannot boast the same fan base as a pofessional sports team, college football is aided by the fact that they play only once a week and for a briefer season than basketball, baseball, or hockey. This has a condensing effect that the NFL enjoys as well. If your team plays only a few times a year, it is more important to invest the time and money to see the game, wherever that game may be. Media companies profit from this condensed audience.

College football also enjoys the enormous advantage of being locally accessible to more people than professional teams, which are located in large markets only. Around the country, no matter how remote you might be, there is a college nearby. People who struggle to make to a big city to watch professional sports can access the big-ticket events in the neighboring town. Most of the traditional popularity of southern college sports teams stems from the dearth of professional sports that region has. Whether it is Ohio State or Alabama, storied college programs have benefited from not having to compete for attention. Media outlets use these teams to reach into local markets that are missed by targeting cities exclusively.

The final factor that drives college football is the intense loyalty that fans feel for their teams. Some feel this loyalty because it is their alma mater. Others feel it because they have pride in their region or in their state. There are no fans like college football fans and media companies know this. They cash in on this loyalty in the same way Nascar sponsors cash in on the loyalty of those fans. Budweiser customizes beer bottles to suit school colors in the same way that CBS Sports wants its name to be synonymous with SEC Football.

In the age of Tivo, sports braodcasting has become even more prized because it is one media event advertisers can be sure wil be watched live. By exploiting three key factorsfrequency, proximity, and loyalty media companies enjoy healthy profits from college football coverage. What this means for fans is that they rarely have to worry about being able to watch the game as long as they don't mind watching commercials in between.

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