Most Of The Country Won't Be Able To Watch Bills-Dolphins
Bills-Dolphins this Sunday is the most hyped matchup of the NFL season thus far.
Miami is 3-0 and sits atop most NFL Power Rankings. Buffalo, 2-1, has outscored its opponents 75-10 over the past two weeks.
The winner of the matchup will hold possession of first place in the AFC East, and the temporary tie-breaker over the other.
Yet most of the country won't have access to the game. CBS will carry the game in only about 35% of regions.
Here is the Week 4 regional TV map via 506Sports:
Even worse, Bill-Dolphins is split about evenly across the map with Broncos-Bears.
Denver and Chicago are a combined 0-6. They gave up a combined 111 -- 111! -- points last week. If the Chiefs didn't pull Patrick Mahomes early in the third quarter, they may have both given up 70.
Broncos-Bears is arguably the worst matchup on the schedule, yet will be widely distributed across the country.
Moreover, Ravens-Browns is the second-best matchup of the week, featuring two 2-1 divisional rivals, yet will only be available in a few states.
The NFL TV schedule is complicated.
The primetime games -- Thursday night, Sunday night, and Monday night -- are available to all areas with access to the channels on which they air.
On Sundays, save for the opening and final weekend, locations receive three games per week: the team in or closest to their region, the CBS or Fox "game of the week" (the networks rotate), and one other game to complement the network with the doubleheader this week.
This week, Fox has the doubler header and will distribute New England at Dallas as its nationally-televised matchup, except for the areas closest to Arizona and San Francisco.
Because the NFL schedule makers slated Bills-Dolphins for 1 p.m., and games cannot flex until Week 5, it's subject to regional placement.
As a result, networks will air Broncos-Bears in most states neighboring Colorado and Illinois.
The early Sunday afternoon window is why Red Zone, Sunday Ticket, and illegal streams exist -- so you don't have to watch Justin Fields and Russell Wilson.