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You really didn't address many of the arguments that have been made. I don't recall anyone saying regular season basketball games on Tuesday nights are going to draw what football games on Saturdays will. Seems like a strawman argument.
What is being argued: college football's title game (and BCS games to boot) draw what the hoops title game and Final Four draw. That says a lot. 35 million people attended D1 football games and the same number went to D1 basketball games. Yes there are many more of them but the fact remains people don't just watch basketball, they attend the games too.
It's pure nonsense to say nobody cares about the sport until the tournament. If that were the case nobody would even watch the tournament because there would be zero context. Zero familiarity. Nobody would fill out brackets if they didn't intuitively know - or had seen - why Florida is a better selection than Memphis. All other NCAA sports have tournaments too and there is zero interest in them.
We have also pointed out several times that the ratings for football are a piss in the wind compared to the NFL. So while football is the most popular sport, it's only the NFL version. The year end big games in college draw what the NBA and college hoops draw, miles behind the NFL. What is it about the college version that drives people away?
We've also mentioned that the ratings themselves are extremely concentrated in 1 quadrant of the country. When you cite "relevance" and "popularity", it is critical to couch that in terms of 1 area. The other 3 sections of the country find it neither relevant or popular.
Finally, if anyone really spent any time watching Alabama play Mizzou in basketball, may god have mercy on their souls. I will pray for them.
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