But you don’t ever hear about college baseball, hockey, etc.
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Baseball was a club/professional sport first before it was played in colleges. Football was basically developed to prove which university had the manliest men. It was a college sport for decades before the NFL came to be, and it was still much less popular because playing professional football wasn’t a lucrative enough career yet to be worth trying to do full time and they didn’t attract much talent and didn’t have the built-in fanbases universities had from their students and alumni. The NFL is much more popular now, but there’s still a strong college football culture.
There’s a ton of money in football and basketball, especially with the way they do their playoffs. There’s no money in baseball or hockey, especially at the collegiate level. Baseball is boring and hockey is still too small of a sport, exposure wise
College basketball may bring in more money than the pros, but you’d have to look that up
They are just the most popular sports in the US. Combine that with most cities / states / areas not having a local professional team, and you get increased interest in the teams that do exist.
Advertising and media is going to cover the most popular sports, which in the US is football, then a big gap, then basketball, then a big gap, then baseball, hockey, etc. Right now March Madness is going on so theres much more College Basketball coverage than normal which might play into it, and the NFL draft is coming up which is like a media merger of NFL football, mixed with college football
Ratings. Especially football. Here’s a list of the top watched shows for 2023. Almost all NFL. 29 of the top 30 most watched shows were NFL games.
[Top Watched](https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/most-watched-shows-2023-ncis-oscars-blue-bloods-super-bowl-yellowstone-1235854795/)
College football and basketball receive extensive media coverage due to their long histories, large fan bases, lucrative TV contracts, geographic diversity, role in player development, and strong ties to community and school spirit. Other college sports like baseball and hockey may not receive as much coverage due to limited audience appeal, lack of major events, competition from professional leagues, and fewer TV contracts. Lastly, you may see around you, most Americans prefer watching football and basketball, coverage of other college sports tends to suffer as a result as mentioned before.
College ball is covered the amount it is because people are interested in it as much (maybe more?) than pro ball.
I couldn’t care less about the NFL and barely care about college football. So from an outsiders perspective, college ball seems more interesting to me because the teams change so much from year to year because players only have 4 years. And it’s somewhat of an even playing field in that it’s not always the team that spends the most money gets the best players winning year after year after year.
Counter-question: why do we almost always see the same question being asked multiple times within days of each other on this sub?
* Basketball and football are more popular than baseball, which is far more popular than hockey, particularly for TV viewing.
* Top tier college basketball and football players go straight to the NBA and NFL. The vast majority of college players drafted by MLB teams will still likely spend a couple of years in the minor leagues. This makes it easier to watch college and pro basketball/football because of the continuity.
* Basketball and football are more popular among gamblers.
Almost all NFL players are American born and are not eligible to be drafted until they are three years removed from high school. They basically all have to go to college to play on their way to the NFL.
About 80% of NBA also American-born and are not eligible to be drafted until they are at least 1 year removed from high school. So the bulk of them also play in American colleges, at least for one year.
70% of MLB players are American-born, but they are eligible to be drafted right out of high school. If they go to a 4-year college, they have to wait at least 3 years. If they go to a Junior or community college they can enter the draft whenever they want.
Only 30% of NHL players are American-born and they can get drafted out of high school.
So essentially of the big 4 sports in the US, the future pros of football and basketball play at American colleges and the future pros of hockey and baseball generally don’t. Also football and basketball are more popular than baseball and hockey.
Individual sport athletes (like golf, tennis, track, etc) can be professionals whenever they choose
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