For instance, while New Orleans, LA, Birmingham, AL, Nashville, TN, and Greenville, SC are relatively small media markets, they pull huge college football ratings. Atlanta is the number one media market in terms of actual college football viewers. Orlando and Tampa are up there too.
So, the SEC has an excellent market in terms of the actual numbers of college football viewers even though it isn't near any of the top media markets - in terms of population and TV households - like New York, LA and Chicago.