There is nothing to do in Louisville, which is one of the major reasons why they got great fan support.
I live in the Bay Area. There are multiple pro sports and college teams within half hour from me. We got Giants, As, 49ers, Raiders, Sharks, Earthquake, Warriors, Stanford, Cal, Santa Clara U, and San Jose State. Stanford is top 10 in football and no one give a most of the time. 49ers, Giants, and Warriors have great fan support. This is coming from someone with family connection to Stanford, Cal, and Santa Clara U. In addition, it's sunny so people are out there doing stuff.
I imagine it is similar in parts of CT. It is hard to compare to a state like KY. People simply have different life style. However, media markets in the NE simply are worth more because people got higher spending $$$$ on average. That's worth something to the media companies.