Many Buccaneers fans won’t be able to watch the game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday
Despite living within driving distance and their avid fandom, many Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans residing in the state of Florida will be out of luck when it comes to watching the game Sunday afternoon against the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Buccaneers vs. Chargers matchup- which is scheduled to kickoff at 1 p.m. on CBS- has another competing game in a relatively close market which will make many fans of Tampa Bay upset.
According to the coverage map at 506 Sports, if you’re residing in central Florida you’ll be watching the Jacksonville Jaguars travel to take on the Cincinnati Bengals, not the Bucs’ home game against the Chargers.
For a running guide: The Panama City, Tampa Bay, Fort Myers, Miami and West Palm Beach markets will be broadcasting the Buccaneers game. All other markets- including Orlando, Tallahassee and Jacksonville- will be broadcasting the Jacksonville-Cincinnati game.
Most of the state of Alabama and South Carolina will be broadcasting the Buccaneers game while the southern portion of Georgia will have the Jacksonville game and the majority of the northern portion will have the Bucs game.
Buccaneers fans are the victim of competing markets
There’s really no other way to put it: Jacksonville and Tampa Bay are simply just very close geographically and that leads to situations like the one we’ll see Sunday when the two teams play on the same network.
Most of the time it doesn’t matter since the Bucs typically play on FOX and Jaguars typically play on CBS, but a handful of times each year spell trouble for fans living around the state.
If you’re still looking to watch the game, you can do so on the NFL Network if you have a television or streaming subscription that includes the network. fuboTV is one streaming provider which has the NFL Network as part of its package.
The Buccaneers are currently considered a 7.5-point favorite over the Chargers as we head into the matchup.