The Impact Of College Conference TV Networks On College Football Attendance

Conference networks introduce a new source of revenue for major collegiate athletic conferences. While this financial windfall is unequivocally positive for conference member institutions, this paper analyzes if the proliferation of college football games on television is responsible for the decline in college football attendance over the previous decade. Results show that appearing on national television actually increases attendance. Meanwhile, the introduction of conference networks has no impact on live attendance. Television does not appear to be the source of declining attendance numbers.