The college football industry in the United States is big business, with thousands of fans streaming into stadiums each week to see their favorite teams live. First opened in 1927, the Michigan Stadium, home to NCAA Division I team the Michigan Wolverines, has a capacity of over 107 thousand. Aptly named "The Big House", the stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is the largest sports stadium in the United States.
How popular is college football?
Over half of respondents to a 2023 survey claimed to be a fan of college football that year. Specifically, the online survey found that 22 percent of respondents were avid fans of the NCAA-organized games, while 35 percent were just casual fans. The showdown between FSU and LSU in September 2023 was the most watched college football kickoff weekend game in 2023. Overall, more than nine million individuals tuned in to watch that game.
What is the NCAA?
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that coordinates sports programs in a large share of universities and colleges in the United States and Canada. In 2022, most of the revenue generated by the NCAA was from television and marketing rights fees, whereas most of the organization’s expenses were in the form of disbursem*nts to Division I members, the highest level of NCAA college sport.
