system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How/why are college sports so big in America?

Being English, it is mind-blowing to see how big college level sports are in the states. The scale/professional and crowd attendence of college football games for example, is immense. Such games even have media coverage. We have nothing like that over here at university level. In fact, even students of the university do not attend and support thier teams in my experience. How/why are college level sports so big in America then and are the players treated like celebrities like it appears?
gpt
American football was made popular by colleges and universities, then the pro leagues formed, not the other way around.  The colleges and universities spent many years and lots of money creating the market for American football. The pro leagues were formed to try to capitalize on that market.  In fact, a popular anecdote is when the pro leagues were still in a fledgeling state, a college star named Jim Thorpe mentioned he was thinking of going pro, most thought he was kidding as the pro leagues were considered a joke.  By the time the NFL became the powerhouse it is today, the college scene was a well entrenched participant.