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Saturday, October 3, 2026 at 5:20 PM ET

How Sports TV Rights Work: National Deals, RSNs, Blackouts and Streaming

How sports TV rights work: how leagues sell national and regional deals, what RSNs are, why blackouts occur, why games move to streaming and how to find a game.

Updated 2026-10-03.

In this guide
  1. How leagues sell TV rights
  2. National vs. regional deals
  3. Regional sports networks (RSNs)
  4. Blackouts
  5. Why games are moving to streaming
  6. How to find where a game is on
  7. Related reading

Finding where a game is on has become harder than it used to be. One night a team is on regular TV, the next on a cable channel, the next on a streaming service you have never subscribed to. The reason is the way sports TV rights are bought and sold. Once you understand the basic system, the schedule makes a lot more sense.

How leagues sell TV rights

Leagues and conferences make a large share of their money by selling the rights to broadcast their games. Instead of selling every game to one company, they usually split the schedule into packages and sell each to a different partner.

A package might include:

  • A weekly national game in a set time slot.
  • Playoff rounds or a championship event.
  • Exclusive windows, such as a holiday game or a special night.
  • Streaming rights, highlights or international rights.

These deals typically run for many years at a time. When they expire, the league negotiates new ones, and the result can reshuffle where fans watch for the next decade. That is why a game you watched on one network for years can suddenly move.

Media companies pay for sports because live games draw large audiences that watch in real time, ads included, which is increasingly rare on TV.

National vs. regional deals

There are two main kinds of rights:

  • National rights are sold by the league itself. These games are available across the country on a national broadcaster or streamer.
  • Local or regional rights cover games shown only in a team’s home area. In leagues like MLB, the NBA and the NHL, teams have generally controlled their own local rights for most of their games.

The NFL works differently. Nearly all of its games are sold as national packages, though Sunday afternoon games on broadcast TV are shown regionally, depending on where you live.

College sports add another layer. Conferences sell rights for their members, and some operate their own TV networks.

Regional sports networks (RSNs)

A regional sports network (RSN) is a cable channel that carries local games for teams in a specific area. For years, RSNs were the main way fans watched their local baseball, basketball and hockey teams.

The RSN model has struggled as more households drop cable. Fewer subscribers means less money, and some RSNs have gone through financial trouble. As a result:

  • Some teams have moved games to free over-the-air local TV.
  • Some leagues have taken over production and distribution of local games for certain teams.
  • More teams now offer direct-to-consumer streaming subscriptions for local games.

This situation keeps changing, so the way to watch a given team can be different from one season to the next.

Blackouts

A blackout is when a game is not available on a particular service in a particular area. Blackouts confuse many fans, but they usually come down to one rule: the local rights holder has the exclusive right to show the game in its home territory.

Common examples:

  • Out-of-market packages. League subscription packages let you watch teams from other cities, but they usually black out games of your local team, because a local broadcaster holds those rights.
  • National exclusives. When a game is on a national broadcaster, it may be blacked out on local channels or streaming packages in favor of the national broadcast.
  • Location checks. Streaming apps use your location to decide what you can watch, which is why a game can be available in one city and not another.

Why games are moving to streaming

More games are showing up on streaming services each year. A few reasons:

  • Cord-cutting. Fewer people pay for cable, so leagues want to reach fans where they already watch.
  • New bidders. Tech and streaming companies have joined the bidding for sports rights, which helps drive up the value of the deals leagues sell.
  • Younger audiences. Leagues want to reach fans who have never had a cable subscription.
  • Exclusive games. Streamers buy specific games or packages to attract subscribers, which is why a single game might be exclusive to one service.

The downside for fans is fragmentation. Following one team all season may require several different subscriptions.

How to find where a game is on

When you are not sure where to watch, try these steps:

  1. Check our watch guide. Our where to watch guide lists where to find games.
  2. Check the team’s website or app. Teams usually publish a broadcast schedule showing which channel or service carries each game.
  3. Check the league’s app. League apps typically list the broadcaster for every game.
  4. Know your location. Whether a game is local or national for you depends on where you live.
  5. Remember radio. Local radio and audio streams often carry games that are hard to find on TV.

For playoff games, schedules and networks are often announced only days ahead, so check close to game time.

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