It is certainly true that the more warm bodies a state or region has, the more television sets it will have and on some level, a smaller percentage of population in (for example) New York may potentially equate or exceed a higher percentage of population in a smaller (by population) state.

But the reality is that the ACC probably has greater viewership by percentage and by raw numbers in South Carolina than it does in New York, Massachusetts or Pennsylvania. People in South Carolina care about football, and they keep an eye on Clemson even if they are Gamecock fans. Hardly anyone gives a rip about Syracuse, BC or Pitt football. Pitt probably has the best football following of the three, and there are more Penn State fans in Pittsburgh than Pitt fans, and the comparison of WVU and Pitt football fans in Pittsburgh is a lot closer than you might think.

More importantly, few people in the northeast gives a rip about what Clemson or Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech are doing. The SEC fan in Georgia will watch LSU or Alabama or even Mississippi State. There is a reason ACC stadiums are smaller than SEC stadiums and that translates into how fans of individual ACC schools follow their conference brethren.