There’s no questioning the NFL’s role as a titan of American sports, which is why the league’s recent attendance numbers are more than a little shocking.

When the league grew to 32 teams with the addition of the expansion Houston Texans in 2002, live-game attendance began to steadily rise every year until peaking in 2007 with a league-wide attendance total of 17,345,205 fans. That’s an average of about 67,754 fans in attendance per game at the NFL’s 256 regular season games.

But after growing for five years from 2002-07, league-wide attendance began to slowly drop over the course of the next five years. By 2010 the league claimed a total attendance of 16,569,514, which was lower than the first year the NFL boasted 32 teams and 256 total games. And in 2011 league-wide attendance was even lower than in 2010.

Since that time, all 32 NFL organizations have made improving the live viewing experience a priority in an effort to revitalize attendance numbers in the coming years.

College football, on the other hand, has never had an attendance issue, especially not in the SEC. If you’re struggling to attract fans, it’s likely for one reason and one reason only: you’re not winning. Just ask Kentucky fans.

Both Auburn and Georgia, for instance, sold out every one of their home games this season, and that’s in two stadiums with capacities exceeding 80,000. One thing both schools have in common is a tradition of winning. Georgia won 10 games last season and was in the thick of the SEC East race until the final week of the season. Auburn won eight regular season games while trying to defend its 2013 conference title, and although it failed, it still had a season most other programs around the country would consider successful.

Alabama and LSU averaged 99 percent capacity during the course of last season, and both schools drew average crowds exceeding 100,000 fans. And what do both programs have in common with each other and Georgia and Auburn as well? Winning. Alabama won 11 games and the SEC title on its way to the inaugural College Football Playoff, and LSU won eight games for the 15th year in a row.

When you win and win consistently, fans will always come. Those four aforementioned programs have been the epitome of success in the SEC for decades, along with traditional powers like Tennessee and Florida, which both averaged greater than 96 percent capacity in their home stadiums last season.

Another thing the SEC can boast as a reason for its superior live-game attendance is tradition and pageantry. The NFL is seen as a business, and most of its franchises lack the longstanding traditions that college football so heavily relies upon. In fact, the few NFL teams with some sort of longstanding tradition — be it the Packers and the Lambeau Leap or the Steelers with their Terrible Towels — often set the standard for attendance league-wide.

In college, every program has its own pageantry and tradition that keeps fans coming back Saturday after Saturday. Attending college games in the fall is as much a lifestyle choice as it is a fan-to-team commitment. Supporters crave a game or cornhole in the parking lot or the chance to sing their school’s fight song as the players take the field or score a touchdown.

Fans play a part at college games. Perhaps this is generalizing, but at NFL games they more or less just make noise.

And lastly, college presents a better live viewing experience for fans because fans share a greater connection to their team than in pro football. In the NFL, teams represent cities as much as they represent fan bases. Fans will often move from city to city during their adult lives, reducing that connection between fan and team.

In college, however, most fans are students, alumni or the family of a student or alumnus of the university in question. At an Alabama football game, 95 percent of fans in attendance have a direct tie to the university or a close personal connection to someone tied to the Tide. Those ties can never be broken. A degree from Alabama will last forever, and so will that graduate’s allegiance to the university.

No matter where he or she moves in her life, his or her faith in Alabama will never wane. The same cannot be said for a Falcons fan from Georgia who’s spent the last 20 years living and working deep in the heart of Texas.

So there you have it. We could continue this discussion from the NFL’s perspective, explaining how the culture of fantasy football, DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket and the NFL RedZone channel are inspiring fans to stay home and watch many games at once.

And we could note that the lack of alcohol sold inside college stadiums makes it a more family-friendly atmosphere than an NFL game, where beer is sold openly and consumed openly by fans. Many college fans may arrive at a game after having a few adult beverages, but only in the NFL can you continue to consume them at the game itself, which might not be as much fun for the 10-year-old sitting behind you.

But let’s stick to the three basic principles that allow college football, or in our case specifically the SEC, to maintain a superior live viewing experience than the biggest and best football league in the world:

  • SEC teams are consistently successful, while the cyclical nature of the NFL team allows for periods of greatness but also stretches of humiliation. Fans love to watch a winner.
  • SEC games feature tradition and pageantry that the NFL cannot match. At NFL games you watch a game. At an SEC game you’re a part of the environment even if you’re sitting in the nosebleeds.
  • And college fans share a direct, unbreakable bond with their teams. In the NFL fans often support the local teams but may not maintain those ties if they move cities.

The NFL can try as many new tricks as it wants to regain its live viewing audience. But the SEC has been cultivating its live viewing experience for more than half a century. Needless to say, the NFL has some work to do.