User:BornonJune8/sandbox/Archive24

A primary, flagship or home television station refers to the local affiliates that carry a majority of the regular season telecasts for a said National Football League (NFL) team. This list only concentrates on television coverage since the AFL–NFL merger in 1970. This list however, does not include "official station" partnerships, where a station that only carries off-network pre-season games also carries team programming throughout the season such as coach's shows, player shows or interview segments during station sportscasts. It also does not include individual player show agreements with stations in a team's market.

As the NFL assigns telecast rights based on the conference affiliation of the road team, the stations listed below would be assigned all of the team's road games (unless they were played at night). They would also carry those home games against teams in the same conference that did not fall under the league's blackout rules. Home games against teams from the other conference, if not blacked out, would be carried on another station. Night games are aired locally either on NBC if Sunday night (or the Thursday Kickoff Game), or on any local station if it is a simulcast of a game on a cable network (as per NFL rules, and subject to blackout; ESPN-aired games are often simulcast on the affiliate of sister network ABC, especially on ABC's O&Os and Hearst Corporation-owned stations—ESPN is an 80/20 joint venture of the Walt Disney Company [ABC's parent] and Hearst).


 * Note: Teams listed in italics are teams that have since relocated.

American Football Conference
From 1970–1997, NBC held the American Football Conference (AFC) package. Since 1998, CBS has held the AFC package.

National Football Conference
From 1970–1993, CBS held the National Football Conference (NFC) package. Since 1994, the Fox Broadcasting Company has held the NFC package.

1CBS owned television station.

2Fox owned television station.

3NBC owned television station.

See also
 * Owned-and-operated television stations in the United States

U.S. television network affiliate switches of 1994
At the time of Fox's bid to claim the NFC package from CBS, most of its affiliates were lower-powered UHF stations. As Fox put together its new sports division to cover the NFL, it wanted to affiliate with VHF stations that had lower channel numbers (channels 2 to 13), more established histories, and carried more value with advertisers.

In the spring of 1994, months after completing the NFL contract, Fox agreed to purchase a 20 percent stake in New World Communications in a multimillion-dollar deal. The key to the deal was that Fox upgraded its affiliate stations in several markets. Before the deal, of the 14 NFC teams at the time, only four—the Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, and Washington Redskins—were co-located with VHF Fox affiliates. The Fox stations in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. are three of the network's original six owned-and-operated outlets. The San Francisco affiliate, KTVU, was owned by Cox Enterprises from 1964 until bought by Fox in the summer of 2014.

Most of the stations involved in the New World deal were located in markets with teams from the NFC, which for television purposes is considered the more valuable (in terms of television) of the two NFL conferences for a variety of reasons, mainly as nine of the ten largest television markets at the time had an NFC team. The lone exception being Boston, whose only NFL team, the New England Patriots, plays in the AFC. Also, most of the NFC teams existed before the formation of the old AFL in 1960, and therefore contain longer histories, rivalries and traditions. During this time, the NFC was also in the midst of a 13-game winning streak against the AFC in the Super Bowl.

Many of the stations slated that switched to Fox were CBS affiliates in markets where NFC teams were located, thus fans would continue to see at least their team's road games (and in many cases, Sunday afternoon home games against other NFC teams) on the same VHF stations that had been carrying the local NFL games since (in some instances) 1956.

In 1995, a year after the Fox switches, St. Louis received an NFC team when the Rams relocated from Los Angeles following the 1994 season, making KTVI the eighth station (and sixth in an NFC market) among the stations involved in the switchover and bringing the total number of NFC teams with VHF Fox affiliates to nine. That same year, the Carolina Panthers joined the NFL as an expansion team, which made WGHP another satellite "home" station for an NFL team as the Panthers are based in Charlotte, which is directly south of the Piedmont Triad region where WGHP is situated.

Because of the time it took for the FCC to approve the NewsCorp investment in New World (as well as waiting for affiliation contracts to expire), that some, "lame duck" affiliates actually carried the NFL on Fox games for most of the 1994 season. For example, most Cowboys games were on KDAF in Dallas and KBVO in Austin, and the Lions were seen on WKBD-TV, while WCGV-TV in Milwaukee carried Packers games until WITI's affiliation deal with CBS ended at the start of December 1994, the only break in WITI's carriage of team games since 1977, when that station took CBS affiliation. As late as the 1995 season, New Orleans Saints games were on WNOL, not WVUE.

Ironically, the New World deal actually led to the Kansas City Chiefs losing its primary station, WDAF-TV. The Chiefs would be relegated to UHF for four years on KSHB, before returning to VHF in 1998, with their games on KCTV.

The network affiliate switches also saw some longtime NBC affiliates move to CBS, and thus two of these stations would regain "home station" status when the AFC package moved to CBS in 1998 – these stations being WBZ-TV in Boston, and KCNC-TV in Denver (both now owned and operated by the CBS network).

Before the AFL-NFL merger
Per the Pro Football Handbook, edited by Don Schiffer, this was the CBS affiliate line-up for each team in 1959:

Baltimore Colts (away games only):


 * WMAR - Baltimore
 * WHP - Harrisburg, Pa.
 * WBOC - Salisbury, Md.

Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals (home games only):


 * WBBM - Chicago (though almost always blacked out)
 * KGGM - Albuquerque, NM
 * KFOA - Amarillo, TX
 * KTBC - Austin, TX
 * WAFB - Baton Rouge, LA
 * KFOM - Beaumont, TX
 * KOOK - Billings, MT
 * KBOI - Boise, ID
 * KBTX - Bryan, TX
 * KFVS - Cape Girardeau, MO
 * KSPR - Casper, WY
 * WMT - Cedar Rapids, IA
 * WCIA - Champaign, IL
 * KFBC - Cheyenne, WY
 * KKTV - Colorado Springs, CO
 * KZTV - Corpus Christi, TX
 * KRLD - Dallas, TX
 * KLZ - Denver, CO
 * KRNT - Des Moines, IA
 * KROD - El Paso, TX
 * WEHT - Evansville, IN
 * KNAC - Fort Smith, AR
 * WANE - Fort Wayne, IN
 * KBLR - Goodland, IN
 * KREX - Grand Junction, CO
 * KFBB - Great Falls, MT
 * KGBT - Harlingen, TX
 * KGWL - Houston, TX
 * KID - Idaho Falls, ID
 * WISH - Indianapolis, IN
 * WDXI - Jackson, TN
 * KRCG - Jefferson City, MO
 * KODE - Joplin, MO
 * KCMO - Kansas City, MO
 * KHOL - Kearney, NE
 * WFAM - Lafayette, IN
 * KLFY - Lafayette, LA
 * KTAG - Lake Charles, LA
 * KGNS - Laredo, TX
 * KSWO - Lawton, OK
 * WKYT - Lexington, KY
 * KOLN - Lincoln, NE
 * KTHV - Little Rock, AR
 * WHAS - Louisville, KY
 * KDUB - Lubbock, TX
 * KGLO - Mason City, IA
 * WREC - Memphis, TN
 * KNOE - Monroe, LA
 * WWL - New Orleans, LA
 * KOSA - Odessa, TX
 * KWTV - Oklahoma City, OK
 * WOW - Omaha, NE
 * KTVO - Ottumwa, IA
 * WMBD - Peoria, IL
 * KOOL - Phoenix, AZ
 * KHQA - Quincy, IL
 * KOTA - Rapid City, SD
 * KWRB - Riverton, IL
 * WHBF - Rock Island, IL
 * WREX - Rockford, IL
 * KSL - Salt Lake City, UT
 * KCTV - San Angelo, TX
 * KENS - San Antonio, TX
 * KSLA - Shreveport, LA
 * KVTV - Sioux City, IA
 * KELO - Sioux Falls, SD
 * WSBT - South Bend, IN
 * KTTS - Springfield, MO
 * KFEQ - St Joseph, MO
 * KMOX - St Louis, MO
 * KPAR - Sweetwater, TX
 * WTHI - Terre Haute, IN
 * KCMC - Texarkana, TX
 * WIBW - Topeka, KS
 * KOLD - Tucson, AZ
 * KOTV - Tulsa, OK
 * KLIX - Twin Falls, ID
 * KWTX - Waco, TX
 * KTVH - Wichita, KS
 * KYSD - Wichita Falls, TX

Cleveland Browns:


 * WJW - Cleveland (no home games)
 * WBEN - Buffalo, NY
 * WKRC - Cincinnati, OH
 * WBNS - Columbus, OH
 * WHIO - Dayton, OH
 * WSEE - Erie, PA
 * WHTN - Huntington, WV
 * WTAP - Parkersburg, WV
 * WVET - Rochester, NY

Detroit Lions:


 * WJBK - Detroit (no home games)
 * WWTV - Cadillac, MI
 * WKZO - Kalamazoo, MI
 * WJIM - Lansing, MI
 * WKNX - Saginaw, MI
 * WTOL - Toldeo, OH (no home games)

Green Bay Packers:


 * WBAY - Green Bay (no home games)
 * KBMB - Bismarck, ND
 * KDIX - Dickinson, ND
 * KDAL - Duluth, MN
 * WKBT - LaCrosse, WI
 * WISC - Madison, WI
 * WDMJ - Marquette, MI
 * WITI - Milwaukee, WI (no Milwaukee games)
 * WCCO - Minneapolis, MN
 * KCJB - Minot, ND
 * KXJB - Valley City, ND
 * WSAU - Wausau, WI

Los Angeles Rams - San Francisco 49ers (A/k/a CBS Pacific Coast Network):


 * KNXT - Los Angeles (no Rams home games)
 * KPIX - San Francisco (no 49ers home games)
 * KBAK - Bakersfield, CA
 * KVOS - Bellingham, WA
 * KHSL - Chico, CA
 * KBAS - Ephrata, WA
 * KIEM - Eureka, CA
 * KFRE - Fresno, CA
 * KULR - Kalispell, MT
 * KLAS - Las Vegas, NV (no Rams home games)
 * KLEW - Lewiston, ID
 * KBES - Medford, OR
 * KMSO - Missoula, MT
 * KEPR - Pasco, WA
 * KOIN - Portland, OR
 * KOLO - Reno, NV
 * KBET - Sacramento, CA (no 49ers home games)
 * KSBW - Salinas, CA (no 49ers home games)
 * KFMB - San Diego, CA (no Rams home games)
 * KIRO - Seattle, WA
 * KXLY - Spokane, WA
 * KIMA - Yakima, WA
 * KIVA - Yuma, AZ (no Rams home games)

New York Giants:


 * WCBS - New York (no home games)
 * WTEN - Albany, NY
 * WLBZ - Bangor, ME
 * WNBF - Binghamton, NY
 * WNAC - Boston, MA
 * WCAX - Burlington, VT
 * WCNY - Carthage, NY
 * WTIC - Hartford, CT
 * WGAN - Portland, ME
 * WAGM - Presque Isle, ME
 * WPRO - Providence, RI
 * WDAU - Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA (when Eagles play at home)
 * WHYN - Springfield, MA
 * WHEN - Syracuse, NY

Philadelphia Eagles (away games only):


 * WCAU - Philadelphia
 * WGAL - Lancaster, PA
 * WDAU - Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA

Pittsburgh Steelers (away games only):


 * KDKA - Pittsburgh
 * WFBG - Altoona, PA
 * WBOY - Clarksburg, WV
 * WARD - Johnstown, PA
 * WSTV - Steubenville, OH
 * WKBN - Youngstown, OH

Washington Redskins:


 * WTOP: Washington (no home games)
 * WAIM - Anderson, SC
 * WAGA - Atlanta, GA
 * WROW - Augusta, GA
 * WBRC - Birmingham, AL
 * WCSC - Charleston, SC
 * WBTV - Charlotte, NC
 * WDEF - Chattanooga, TN
 * WNOK - Columbia, SC
 * WRBL - Columbus, GA
 * WCBI - Columbus, MS
 * WMSL - Decatur, AL
 * WTVY - Dothan, AL
 * WTVD - Durham, NC
 * WOWL - Florence, AL
 * WBTW - Florence, SC
 * WINK - Fort Myers, FL
 * WFMY - Greensboro, NC
 * WNCT - Greenville, SC
 * WSVA - Harrisonburg, VA
 * WJTV - Jackson, MS
 * WJXT - Jacksonville, FL
 * WJHL - Johnson City, TN
 * WBIR - Knoxville, TN
 * WMAZ - Macon, GA
 * WTOK - Meridian, GA
 * WTVJ - Miami, FL
 * WKRG - Mobile, AL
 * WCOV - Montgomery, AL
 * WLAC - Nashville, TN
 * WTAR - Norfolk, VA
 * WDBO - Orlando, FL
 * WRVA - Richmond, VA
 * WDBJ - Roanoke, VA
 * WTOC - Savannah, GA
 * WSPA - Spartanburg, SC
 * WTVT - Tampa, FL

Local preseason television coverage
Although several exhibition games are broadcast on television nationally, most exhibition games are in-house productions of the individual teams (often in association with a local broadcaster, typically with the rights to Thursday and Monday night games during the regular season; under the NFL's anti-siphoning policy, all away games and sold-out home games featuring the local team scheduled to air on the NFL Network or ESPN have the cable channel in question blacked out in the local market of that team, and the NFL sells the games to local broadcast stations only via broadcast syndication), and syndicated to other local stations in the region, which usually includes a coach's show package during the regular season. NFL Network also airs coverage of exhibition games, either live or tape delayed, switching between the home and visiting team feeds after halftime.

Exhibition games are almost exclusively played at night due to hot summer weather, and are frequently scheduled based on local convenience (e.g. games on the west coast tend to start at 7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET). The league's blackout restrictions apply, although stations are allowed to play the game on a tape delay if the game does not sell out (unlike the regular season policy, when rights revert to NFL Films). Many more exhibition games fail to sell out than do regular-season games.