Now that the Los Angeles Rams have set up shop in the City of Angels, the San Diego Chargers have limited television exposure in the market.
Viewers in regions with multiple teams can attest to the challenges of being able to watch both without conflict. League restrictions limit the ways in which teams can compete for viewership within the same television market, which in this instance means that the Rams have a priority over the Chargers among Los Angeles area television stations.
For the Chargers, this marks a change from years past. The Chargers essentially had all of Southern California to themselves for two decades, allowing them to act as a home team of sorts for both networks and fans.
Now, even as the two teams face very few instances in which they air on the same network simultaneously, the Rams will get a major chunk of television exposure. More from the Los Angeles Daily News:
On two occasions, Oct. 2 and 9, both the Chargers and Rams are scheduled to play at the same time on the same network. On five other occasions the teams will play in the same time slot on different networks: Sept. 18 and 25, Nov. 6 and 27 and Jan. 1.
Things are different from 1994, the Rams’ and Raiders’ last season in Los Angeles. The NFL no longer enforces blackouts for home games that aren’t sold out, and restrictions have been loosened on doubleheader games when the local team is at home. But the Rams will always get the benefit of the doubt from L.A. stations.
The only Chargers game sure to be seen in this area will be Oct. 13, a Thursday night home game against Denver that will be simulcast nationally on CBS and the NFL Network.
Of course, that is subject to change, as flex scheduling could allow the Chargers to pick up an airing on Thursday, Sunday, or Monday night football. Without that, however, they are facing a season in which they will very rarely be seen in Los Angeles.