You've probably been there. It’s Sunday morning. You’ve got the wings ready, the jersey is on, and you flip to CBS or FOX expecting to see your team, only to find a random matchup between two teams you couldn't care less about. It’s frustrating. It feels like the broadcast networks are personally attacking your fanhood. But the truth is, the NFL televised games map is a complex, moving target dictated by contracts, protected markets, and some very specific decisions made by network executives in New York.
Understanding these maps isn't just for data nerds. It’s for anyone who wants to avoid the soul-crushing realization that their game is blacked out.
Why the NFL Televised Games Map Changes Every Week
The NFL doesn't just throw games at the wall to see what sticks. Each week, the "master map" is drawn up based on which regional markets have the highest interest in specific matchups. Most of the time, this is obvious. If you live in Boston, you’re getting the Patriots. If you’re in Dallas, you’re getting the Cowboys. But what happens when you live in a "secondary market" or a "neutral zone"? That’s where things get weird.
Take a city like St. Louis. Since the Rams left, that market has become a bit of a free-for-all. One week they might get the Chiefs because of geographic proximity. The next week, they might get the 49ers because there’s a compelling storyline. These decisions are made by 506 Sports, which has become the gold standard for tracking these maps. They basically do the heavy lifting of gathering data from every local affiliate to show exactly which counties are seeing which games.
The NFL’s "Home Market" rule is the most rigid part of this whole system. If a team is playing at home, the local primary market must air that game. No exceptions. This is why you’ll sometimes see a "singleheader" week where one network only has one game slot (either 1:00 PM or 4:00 PM ET), while the other network has a "doubleheader." If your local team is playing on the "singleheader" network at 1:00 PM, that network cannot show you a game at 4:00 PM. It’s a protectionist policy designed to keep eyes on the local product and, historically, to encourage ticket sales.
The Role of 506 Sports and Digital Tracking
If you haven't heard of 506 Sports, you're missing the only tool that actually matters for Sunday planning. They produce the visual NFL televised games map that everyone shares on social media. It looks like a patchwork quilt of colors over a map of the United States.
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The maps usually drop on Wednesday or Thursday.
Why so late? Because the networks wait to see if there are injuries or storyline shifts that might make a different game more appealing to a broader audience. If a star quarterback goes down on Monday Night Football, the "map" for the following Sunday might shift to move a more competitive game into a larger TV market.
Mapping the National Windows
Broadly speaking, you have three categories of games. You have the early regional window (1:00 PM ET), the late regional window (4:05 PM or 4:25 PM ET), and the national primetime window. The "national" games are easy; everyone gets Sunday Night Football on NBC, Monday Night Football on ESPN/ABC, and Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime.
The regional maps are the real headache.
FOX and CBS split the Sunday afternoon slate. Usually, CBS handles the AFC road games and FOX handles the NFC road games. But "cross-flexing" has made this distinction blurry. Now, the NFL can move a classic NFC matchup to CBS just to balance out the quality of the windows. This means the NFL televised games map you looked at last year might not follow the same logic this year.
The Singleheader vs. Doubleheader Nightmare
This is the part that trips up most casual fans.
Every week, one network gets the "Doubleheader" rights and the other gets the "Singleheader." If FOX has the doubleheader, they show a game in both the early and late slots to most of the country. If CBS has the singleheader, they only show one game total.
Here is where it gets spicy: if your local team is at home on the singleheader network, that network is legally barred from airing a game in the opposite time slot. They don't want to compete with the local stadium's gate. It’s an old-school rule that feels incredibly dated in the era of streaming, but it still dictates the colors on that NFL televised games map every Sunday.
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How Sunday Ticket Changed the Map Dynamic
For years, DirecTV was the only escape from the map. Now that YouTube TV has the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, the "map" matters slightly less for those willing to pay the premium. However, blackouts still apply.
If a game is on your local televised map, you cannot watch it on Sunday Ticket.
Basically, Sunday Ticket is for the "out-of-market" games. If you’re a Steelers fan living in Seattle, the NFL televised games map is your enemy because it’s likely showing you the Seahawks or a big NFC West matchup. You need the Ticket to see the black and gold. But if the Steelers happen to be playing the "National Game of the Week" on FOX, the Ticket will actually black you out, forcing you to switch back to your local FOX affiliate.
Strategies for Following the Map
Honestly, the best way to handle this is to be proactive. Don't wait until kickoff to find out you're stuck watching a blowout.
- Check 506 Sports on Wednesday afternoon. This is when the first reliable "draft" of the map comes out.
- Identify the "Late Move." Sometimes maps change as late as Saturday if a game loses its playoff implications or a major weather event occurs.
- Verify your local affiliate. Just because you live in a certain state doesn't mean your local station follows that state's major team. Parts of Western Connecticut often get New York teams, while the rest of the state gets New England.
- Use an antenna for "free" insurance. If your streaming service goes down or has a dispute with a local station (like the frequent Tegna or Nexstar disputes), a high-quality digital antenna can often pull in the game from a neighboring market's tower if you're lucky.
The Future of NFL Maps and Streaming
We are moving toward a world where the "map" might eventually become obsolete, but we aren't there yet. With the NFL's move to put games on Peacock, Paramount+, and Netflix (for those Christmas Day games), the traditional NFL televised games map is being fragmented.
In 2024 and 2025, we saw the league experiment more with "exclusive" digital windows. When a game is exclusive to Peacock, there is no map—everyone with the app gets it. But for the core Sunday afternoon experience, the map remains king. It’s a remnant of a 20th-century broadcast model that is holding on because the TV networks still pay billions for that regional exclusivity.
If you’re serious about your Sunday, you need to treat the map like a weather report. It’s an essential part of the pre-game ritual. Without it, you’re just clicking through channels, hoping for the best, and that’s no way to spend a Sunday.
Actionable Next Steps
To make sure you never miss a snap, do these three things every week:
- Bookmark the 506 Sports NFL page and check it specifically on Thursday morning for the finalized color-coded maps.
- Confirm your local TV market by checking your zip code on the "local station finder" tools provided by FOX and CBS sports websites; this tells you exactly which affiliate you're tied to.
- Check the "Network Window" schedule to see which network has the doubleheader for the week, which will tell you if you're getting two games or three on Sunday afternoon.
Knowing the map means knowing if you need to head to a sports bar or if you can stay on the couch. Plan accordingly.