re: Alabama’s win over Georgia in the SEC Championship averaged 17.519 million viewers

A big part of this is because the population and economy always grow.

I guarantee that more people ate a McDonald's meal this year than 5, 10...20 years ago. That doesn't mean that McDonald's improved their menu and sourced better ingredients or started hiring professional chefs. It just means there's more busy, hungry people with a 20 dollar bill in their wallet.