The New Orleans Saints Game Isn’t On TV In Shreveport This Week

Just to get ahead of this, there are going to be some upset New Orleans Saints fans in the Shreveport and Bossier City area this weekend, and this is why.

The New Orleans Saints will not be broadcast on local TV in the Shreveport market for their Week 2 game against the San Francisco 49ers. In order to see the team play, you may have to do some unsavory things that we won't explain here.

But let's try to explain what is happening.

Why Aren't The Saints On TV In Shreveport?

You won't be able to see the Saints play on local broadcast TV, because this market will be getting the Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants game.

Sites like 506Sports track the market maps every week, and are able to tell you what markets will get what games, and even show it illustrated on a map. This weeks map shows the Shreveport market will be getting the Cowboys.

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The pocket of Cowboys coverage in Northwest Louisiana is the Shreveport-Texarkana TV Market. At the southern edge of this coverage area is the Alexandria TV Market, which starts at Vernon and Rapides Parishes. To the East, the Monroe/El Dorado TV Market starts at Union, Lincoln, and Jackson Parishes.

What Coverage Area In Louisiana Will Get The Dallas Cowboys Game?

For the Week 2 games of the 2025 NFL season, the Shreveport-Texarkana TV Market will get the Cowboys game. The Parishes that are included are Caddo, Bossier, Webster, De Soto, Red River, Sabine, Natchitoches, Bienville, and Claiborne. So if your cable/satellite connection includes stations that broadcast from within that area, they will cover the Cowboys game.

Now, if you are able to get an over-the-air signal from another Louisiana market, you can watch the game that way. Because all of the other TV markets in Louisiana will be carrying the New Orleans Saints game.

In fact, viewers in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida will be shown that game, while Shreveport won't.

Who Decides Which NFL Game Gets Shown In A Market?

It's not the fault of the local TV broadcasters. The decisions are made by the NFL and the major broadcasting partners. This means the broadcast decisions are being made by the high level people within the NFL, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and the NFL Network. Once they make their decisions, it is pushed down to the local markets.

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In some rare cases, a local market can request the ability to change their coverage, but that's not something that normally happens.

Will NFL Sunday Ticket Have The Saints Game?

This will be one of our first big tests for the NFL Sunday Ticket "blackout" rules since the program has moved to Youtube.

If you want to get NFL Sunday Ticket on Youtube, it will cost $480 without a Youtube TV package. Even at that cost, there are still "blackout" restrictions. Which means those living in the Shreveport area may not be able to watch the Saints on Sunday Ticket either.

The Sunday Ticket "blackout" restrictions say that if a home game doesn't sell out, a game could become unavailable in the region. Youtube will use a combination of your billing address and cell phone location data to determine where you are, and if you're in a "blackout" area.