Well, lemme tell ya, this here NFL TV market map thing, it’s a real head-scratcher. They got all these games goin’ on, and who gets to see what, it’s all decided by some fancy map, I reckon. It ain’t like the old days when you just turned on the TV and there was the game. Nope, now it’s all complicated like a tangled-up ball of yarn.
So, you wanna know about this NFL TV market map, huh? Lordy, it’s more confusing than tryin’ to find a needle in a haystack. They got these lines drawn all over the place, different colors and such. You live here, you get this game. You live over yonder, you get that game. Sometimes you only can watch the local team’s game.
They say it’s ’cause of some bigwigs who decide these things. They got their reasons, I suppose. Something about who pays the most money, and who gets the most eyeballs, and whatnot. It ain’t like them city folk care what us simple folk wanna watch. I swear, sometimes it feels like that NFL TV market map is designed to make sure you can only watch the games they want you to watch.
I remember one time, they had a Thursday game. Rams and 49ers, that’s what they call those teams. Big game. Everyone was talkin’ ’bout it. Week 15, it was. But for some of us, it was as good as not happening at all. No bye week, either. Just two games on Monday. Lord, two games on Monday is like having two desserts, I suppose, but not if you can’t watch ’em!
- Thursday night game
- Rams beat the 49ers
- Week 15, no bye week
- Two Monday night games
And another time, they was talkin’ ’bout week 13, that’s 2024, mind you. All these maps, they had. From some place called 506sports. They make it so you can’t hardly know what game you gonna see till the day of. Chicago Bears, they was playin’. It’s a mess, I tell ya. It is just like they are trying to do something to us.
I heard them say each team got their own place on the map, you know, where they play. They call it “primary market” or somethin’. That’s just where the team is, plain and simple. Then they got these other places, “secondary markets,” they call ’em. That’s where other folks might watch the game, but it ain’t guaranteed. It just depends on the NFL TV market map.
These NFL TV market map things change all the time, too. One week you get your game, the next week you don’t. It’s like tryin’ to catch a greased pig at the county fair. You just can’t get a good grip on it. Sometimes it just depends on where you at. If you are at the right place, you can get the right game. If not, you are just unlucky. They got their rules, I guess, but they ain’t easy to follow. It seems like the rules only help them, but not us.
They got all these fancy words for it, too. “Broadcast rights” and “market share” and a whole bunch of other gibberish. It all comes down to money, I reckon. Who’s payin’ who, and who’s gettin’ the most out of it. And they don’t really care about us. It is just about the money.
I just want to watch my game, you know? Is that too much to ask? I don’t need all this rigmarole with the maps and the rules and the whatnot. Just put the game on the TV and let me watch it. But it seems like they will never do it in this way. If you don’t pay, you don’t get to watch. That’s a bad thing, I think.
- Each team has a “primary market”
- Some teams have “secondary markets”
- The map changes all the time
- It’s all about the money, I guess
It makes an old woman like me wanna throw her hands up in the air and holler. It is just like they are always trying to get more money from us. But they are also trying to control what we can watch. I just don’t understand why they gotta make it so difficult. This NFL TV market map is just a big, confusing mess. That’s all there is to it. I really miss the old time.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go see if I can find a good radio signal. Maybe I can at least listen to the game. This whole NFL TV market map business is just too much for an old gal like me to figure out. And don’t get me started on them streaming services. That’s a whole other can of worms! A whole big can of worms! And no one can know what is inside.
