The Minnesota Vikings versus Tampa Bay Buccaneers game in Week 3 is about to be a serious scavenger hunt for a lot of fans. That blue area on the FOX late window coverage map? It’s not exactly sprawling, folks, feeling a lot more limited than what we’ve seen for the first two weeks of the season.
This Week’s Doubleheader Blues
Seriously, the NFL’s TV rules can be a real head-scratcher, and this week they’re causing some major headaches. The deal is, CBS and FOX only get to blast doubleheaders in Week 1 and Week 18. Every other week, they alternate who gets to show two games in a single market. Guess what? This week, it’s CBS’s turn for the doubleheader. That means if you live in the “blue area” on the map, your local FOX affiliate isn’t gonna have an early game warming things up before the Vikings kick off at 3:05 PM Central. Nope, it’ll just be the late game on FOX for you. Meanwhile, CBS will have both an early and a late game in those spots. That blue zone itself is a mixed bag, covering a decent chunk of the midwest, most of Florida, the Houston metro area, a bit of the New England states, the Pittsburgh area, and both Indianapolis and Cincinnati zones. Talk about making it tough for a fanbase to catch their team live!
What Else Is On For The Rest Of Us (And Your Hawks!)
Beyond the Vikings versus Buccaneers clash, FOX is throwing out some other games in that late window. The Arizona Cardinals are squaring off against the San Francisco 49ers, lighting up the map in orange. But let’s talk about the early FOX games because, for us 12s, that’s where the real action is! The Los Angeles Chargers are taking on the Buffalo Bills in the red zone, the New York Jets are battling the Detroit Lions in green, and the Carolina Panthers are going against the Cleveland Browns in aqua. And for us here in the Emerald City, our beloved Seattle Seahawks are heading East to face the Washington Commanders, highlighted in yellow on the early FOX map. That’s a huge win for us, knowing we’ll have our team on the local FOX affiliate right from the jump!
So, yeah, if you’re a Vikings fan outside that limited blue viewing area, get ready to fire up YouTube TV’s NFL Sunday Ticket, or maybe start calling up buddies with better cable packages. Finding this game live is going to be a grind this weekend. It’s a bummer when the rules make it harder for fans to support their team. But for us Seahawks faithful, we get to see our squad early, and that’s something to definitely look forward to as we track how our boys are stacking up early in the season! Go Hawks!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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