With Mayfield starting and the renewed interest in the Browns, Sunday's game will go to 25% of Fox marketsGETTY IMAGES
Fox on Sunday will feature Browns-Raiders in its Week 4 singleheader window as part of the league's cross-flex scheduling, and it could be a boon for the net. Browns QB Baker Mayfield will make his first career start, and the team is coming off a "TNF" broadcast last week that marked NFL Net's best Thursday night audience since '15. Fox Sports Exec VP/Research, League Operations & Strategy Mike Mulvihill said a matchup like Browns-Raiders a year ago might go to 6% of the country, but with Mayfield starting and the renewed interest in the Browns, the game will instead go to 25% of Fox markets (Josh Carpenter, Assistant Editor).
BROKEN GLASS CITY: In Toledo, David Briggs noted Sunday's game will "not be broadcast over the air in northwest Ohio," marking the second of four non-nationally televised Browns games that will "get the shaft" in the area this season. WTOL-CBS received "more than 100 calls after the Browns-Saints game in Week 2 went unaired." WTOL GM Brian Lorenzen said that he is as "upset as anyone." But Briggs notes a city within 75 miles of any NFL stadium is "officially designated a secondary home market," which means Toledo is "aligned with Detroit (58 miles), not Cleveland (115)." Briggs: "That doesn’t necessarily reflect our allegiances." Lorenzen said, "The ratings have shown that, at least in recent history, even with the Browns not being good, Browns games have performed a little bit better than any other team.” Briggs notes this week's Lions-Cowboys starts at 1:00pm ET, while the Browns-Raiders starts at 4:05pm, which "would be perfect, if not for the perfect storm." CBS in Week 4 has the doubleheader window, but Browns-Raiders had already been "cross-flexed from CBS to Fox to avoid overlap" in the S.F.-San Jose-Oakland market. 49ers-Chargers play at 4:25pm on CBS, with most of the country getting Saints-Giants on CBS in that window (also part of cross-flex). With WTOL having "two local games but one opening, the Lions won out." Similar conflicts are "in play" for the Browns-Buccaneers (Oct. 21) and Falcons-Browns (Nov. 11). Briggs: "Why can’t the NFL make exceptions for divided markets?" (Toledo BLADE, 9/26).
