A Deep Dive Into the Evolution of the NFL's Regional Coverage

For those who read my stories, you saw that I've been breaking down the 2025 NFL schedule in bits and pieces, saving Monday Night Football for last--fitting because it ends the week. While I will discuss this year's Monday Night Football schedule, I feel that I have to talk about the core of every week's schedule. You know what I'm talking about. Playing off the immortal words of Scott Hanson, "Seven hours of nonstop football!"

Televised NFL games were sporadic prior to the creation of the AFL, and when that league debuted in 1960, CBS and NBC were clearly becoming the main networks for football. The regional coverage arrangement that we became accustomed to would began once the leagues merged in 1970. It was simple: CBS aired National Football Conference games (including playoffs), while NBC aired American Football Conference games (including playoffs). Regarding interconference games, NFC @ AFC aired on CBS, while AFC @ NFC aired on NBC.

For almost a quarter-century, this was the arrangement, until Fox Sports was born and bought out CBS's NFL package. Since Fox began their NFL coverage in 1994, they've been the NFC channel; regular season, Wild Card, Divisional, and the NFC Championship. CBS wouldn't be out of the NFL game for long, as they would buy out NBC's NFL package in 1998, and they became the AFC channel. This is the exact setup up that exists today.

In a standard week (without byes), 16 games are played--three national TV spots, leaving 13 games airing on Sunday in regional coverage. A typical NFL Sunday is divided into three slots, which differ depending on the time zone. For those in the Eastern and Central Time Zones, it's Early Games, Late Games, and Night Game (SNF). This is because the first batch of games starts at 1PM Eastern, which is also Noon Central, while the later games start at either 4:05PM or 4:25PM Eastern/3:05PM or 3:25PM Central. For those of us in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones (I'm in the latter), it's Morning Games, Afternoon Games, Late Game (SNF). This is because the first batch of games start at 11AM Mountain/10AM Pacific, while the second batch starts at 2:05PM or 2:25PM Mountain/1:05PM or 1:25PM Pacific.

The reason why the time slots differ in the late window is because of doubleheaders. Currently, CBS and Fox take turns having doubleheaders, though there are times that one or the other would have the DH on consecutive weeks. In the 17-week format, CBS and Fox took turns for the first 16 weeks, but both networks had doubleheaders in the final week, giving each network nine doubleheaders. Since the NFL regular season became 18 weeks long in 2021, there would be two instances where both networks had doubleheaders, giving each network 10 doubleheaders.

Now let's talk about my favorite topic in regional coverage: what games air where.

I have been watching the NFL since I was seven years old. By the time I really learned all of the intracacies of the NFL's regional coverage, Los Angeles lost the NFL. The Rams had been in LA since 1946, relocating from Cleveland, while the Raiders originated in Oakland and were uprooted to LA in the early 80s. 1995 saw the Raiders back in Oakland, while the Rams actually moved to St. Louis, who lost the Cardinals seven years prior. So for 21 seasons, regional coverage was quite interesting in the country's second-largest market. And that does includes my neck of the woods in the OC, which is right next to LA County.

Of course, 2016 saw the Rams return to LA, and the following year saw the Chargers relocated to LA as well, so local football was back in the LA/OC area. If the Rams and Chargers are in the regional coverage window, I get those games, no questions asked. It can make watching my Packers difficult at times. If a Packers game and a Rams game are on the same time slot, it's the Rams I'll get. And I say just Rams instead of both teams because the Rams and Packers are both NFC teams, and chances are, both of them will be on Fox if they conflict (even in this current era of cross-flexing).

Of course, one can always check the TV guide to see what game is on in your area, but many fans have resorted to heading to a site known as 506Sports (formerly The506). I've went there myself in the last few years to see what games (other than Rams and Chargers games) will air on my local networks. The site color codes the regional coverage games and puts up "coverage maps" that details which game is airing in which market. Usually, the top game is in red, the secondary game in blue, tertiary game in green, and the quaternary game in yellow (at least). Usually in single game maps, the quinary game is in some sort of orange color.

Click here for an example; it's the coverage maps from Opening Week in 2023.

Of course, you can also tell what games you're getting by seeing who will be calling the games. This is CBS' announcers list for Week 1's Sunday games this season, and as the pic shows, CBS will have the doubleheader in Week 1. Both CBS and Fox have a hierarchy when it comes to their announce teams, and of course CBS' top duo is Jim Nantz and Tony Romo, with Tracy Wolfson as the sideline reporter. That tandem will be in Lambeau for Lions/Packers, but again, look at the other CBS game in that time slot: Texans/Rams. So the Rams will be on my CBS network (KCBS) in the late slot, and it looks like I'll be getting Steelers @ Jets because the Ian Eagle-led tandem is CBS' "B-Squad."

Of course, there's also RedZone, the popular phenomenon that allows viewers to watch just a bit of each game for seven straight hours. Unless you have NFL Sunday Ticket, RedZone is the go to. I've said for years that RedZone was created for Fantasy Football nuts like myself, because they often show scoring plays, and chances are, they are from players that a lot of people have on Fantasy. I actually did experience Sunday Ticket last year; that was awesome. As for this year, we'll see what develops by September 7.

The NFL's regional coverage is the true heart of a week in the NFL, and we get it for 18 straight Sundays. Absolutely amazing mayhem, especially if a few of those games go to OT. I am absolutely ready for NFL Sundays to return!