Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took to X on Sunday night, to express his frustration with not being able to see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. New England Patriots game.
DeSantis sounds off
It may have been for the best given the result, but the Bucs game was blacked out in Tallahassee.
It said to sign up for Paramount, so I did — and they only had the Jaguars-Texas game, which was already on CBS broadcast.
What a joke! https://t.co/NyoAF95K0q
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) November 10, 2025
DeSantis, based in the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, was not able to see the game on his local CBS station, WCTV, because the Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Houston Texans matchup was airing instead.
He went on to state that he tried to watch the game on the streaming app Paramount+, but they were also airing the Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Houston Texans game and not the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. New England Patriots matchup.
There are a couple of things to note here: this wasn’t unusual activity from CBS and Paramount+.
Why DeSantis couldn’t see the Buccaneers in Tallahassee
Tallahassee is 111 miles closer to Jacksonville than it is to Tampa, meaning that it is considered to be in the Jaguars’ TV market. CBS will always prioritize putting Jaguars games on in Tallahassee over Buccaneers games if both teams are playing on the same channel at the same time.
The other thing: who told DeSantis that the game would be available on Paramount+? He got bad information, as the streaming outlets have the same rules apply to them as the local stations on which games are airing in their respective markets.
What DeSantis didn’t know is that he could have watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. New England Patriots game, but the only way to have done so legally would have been through NFL Sunday Ticket.
NFL Sunday Ticket is available for in-home viewing through YouTube TV and is also sold to businesses through DirecTV.
DeSantis does raise an interesting issue, however. Why is a matchup between two teams leading their division not available for people in the home state of one of the teams to see?
NFL still embraces regional TV coverage
While nearly every other live sporting event is readily available on national TV, the NFL remains one of the last professional sports that still prioritizes regional coverage.
The NBA recently went back to the regional model, as NBC’s new Tuesday Coast 2 Coast package shows one game on the East Coast, followed by another matchup on the West Coast.
Both NBA games are available on Peacock, so unlike the NFL Sunday games, even if the game you want to see isn’t on in your local market, it is still easy to access.
The NFL is expected to renegotiate its TV rights deals soon, but even with the cable and streaming networks galore, the league is not likely to make every game readily available for a cheap price to the consumer.
