REUTERS

A fan rides a zip line as part of the Super Bowl XLVI festivities in Indianapolis.

New York – The Super Bowl is set to break television ratings records on Sunday, capping a season in which the NFL established itself as the most reliable and formidable of TV juggernauts.

Last month, its conference championship games were the most watched in 30 years, and it soars into Sunday's Super Bowl defying the ratings drag that plague much of TV.

“Every once in a while on TV, these events galvaniSe the nation, like 'Who shot J.R.?'“ said Kelly Kahl, the senior executive vice president for CBS Primetime. “These things come along once every five, 10 years. The Super Bowl is every year.”

In 2006, NFL games on American networks averaged 16.3 million viewers. By 2011, that number had climbed to 19.8 million (down slightly from 20 million a year ago).

By comparison, prime-time shows on the four main U.S. networks went in the opposite direction. In 2006, they averaged 9.8 million viewers during the NFL regular season. Five years later, that had decreased to 8.1 million.

“It's gotten great momentum, and nothing has gotten in the way to stop that momentum,” Kahl said.

A close score Sunday between the New England Patriots and New York Giants likely will break the record set by last year's Super Bowl for the largest audience in U.S. television history of 111 million people. That's not to be confused with the highest-rated show ever, measured by the percentage of all American homes with TVs tuned into a program. The “MASH” series finale, watched by more than 60 percent, still holds that distinction.

Population growth partly explains last year's big number, but massive interest in the game also does. At 46 percent, the 2011 game compared well to the Super Bowl record of 49.1 set in 1982 during the golden age of TV watching.

Network executives can rattle off all the reasons for the NFL's appeal: scarcity of games, winner-take-all nature of the playoffs, fantasy football and gambling, the unpredictability of sports, the stunning visual of the NFL in high definition.

The formula is not a secret, but replicating it is mystifying.

“The answer is elusive,” said ESPN executive vice president John Wildhack. “If people knew, then others would emulate it.”

College football is surging in popularity, too, and the two sports build off each other. The fame of college stars boosts interest in the draft, keeping the NFL in fans' consciousness during the offseason. Those players arrive in the pros already with a following.

Unlike other sports' championships, the Super Bowl has proved remarkably consistent at drawing big audiences even when small-market teams make it. Still, the NFL has been on a fortuitous run in recent years of close games and intriguing story lines.

The last four Super Bowls have featured a New York team (the Giants in 2008), an undefeated club (the Patriots that year), two appearances by the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers franchise, one by the vaunted Green Bay Packers franchise, and the feel-good tale of the Saints representing hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.

And after a brief stretch when it appeared a team didn't need a superstar quarterback to win, the glamour has fully returned to the position. With Tom Brady and Eli Manning, this year's Super Bowl features a supermodel wife and the first family of QBs.

Of this Sunday, ESPN's Wildhack said, “It's an unofficial national holiday.”– Sapa-AP