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NFL Week 9 Coverage Map Analysis - 2023

This is a place on the internet to hear jokes and observations about sports games you probably won't be able to watch. This week, my favorite player to watch is in Germany this week playing in a stadium built for my actual favorite sport to watch. But I digress. Let's get to the maps!

The incredible people at 506 Sports make an NFL TV coverage map every week. I enjoy the minutiae of sports more than actual sports in most cases, and I love geography, so this one of my favorite sports-related things to look at. I've been sharing with a group chat and adding some of own highlights and analysis. The length of this endeavor has now exceeded the socially acceptable limit for a post in a group chat, so it's going to live here for as long as I remember to write it. This is probably the least interesting set of maps since I started doing this.

This week's map post can be found here: 506 Sports Week 9 Coverage Map.


CBS Single

This is the fun messy one this week!

The Seattle at Baltimore bird battle is the de facto national game. This is where I use my tiny platform to say that the Seahawks throwback uniforms from last week were amazing and perfect and they should go back to using those all the time.

Florida and Texas (Oklahoma) are ruled this week by the Texans/Bucs matchup, made possible by the three other teams from those states being in a different slot, in a different country, staying home or some combination therein.

Interesting to see Minnesota getting a late Colts/Panthers (Why is this a late game? Who wants to watch this outside of those localish areas?) matchup instead of the Bears/Saints. NFC North has been one of the sticky divisions this year within the bounds of any of its teams home areas. It's also one of the nice and tight geographical divisions, so that makes it a bit easier too. This is coming form a guy who would've been LIVID if the Cowboys had been moved from the NFC East during the realignment period. I'm much more chill about this now. 

Also, Bears/Saints is an NFC game on CBS. This apparently happens much more frequently than I realized.

Indiana Update: South Bend gets the Bears while Fort Wayne gets the late Colts games. Louisville gets the national game instead of the Colts. Say a prayer for my parents and the complaints their friends will certainly share at church on Sunday morning.

Arizona and Cleveland will be viewable in Arizona and Cleveland (and Eastern West Virginia!).

A fun thing these maps reveal is the awareness of what's airing on the other network. The home areas of the five of the six teams playing an early Fox game are getting the late CBS game, with nothing opposing the local broadcast. It's pretty telling that networks would rather counter program a Cowboys/Eagles matchup than a local team. It's not surprising but it does confirm what you would expect.


Fox Early

This one is pretty easy. Rams and Packers are mostly national, except in the (extended) home and divisional regions for the other teams playing. We also have a snowbird shuffle in South Florida. Hopefully the Packers fans are wintering in Fort Myers and Pats/Commies fans are in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

After some consideration, this holds with my anecdotal experience; Midwest people tend to like the Gulf Coast while Northeast people tend to prefer the Atlantic coast. This might be proximity but there might be more to it. It's possible Midwesterners have more lake experience, so the gulf feels more familiar, while the aggressive churn oceanside better fits the Northeast lifestyle? Stereotypes!


Fox Late

I think I could be a network TV executive: If there is an NFC Matchup with the Cowboys involved, put it in the late national game slot. That's it! Now we print those sweet, sweet light beer arms race advertising dollars (When the paper turns green, now it's money!). Even the New York Football Giants have no chance in this kind of a race. The ESPN Yankees are so embarrassed by their former roommates. I think this is the first time this year that the Bay Area doesn't get the Raiders, who I still forget are in Las Vegas now, the LV abbreviation trips me up every time As my buddy Dave once said, "Is it Los...Vangeles?"
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