Steelers-49ers. In name recognition alone, it’s a heavyweight tilt.
The NFL on Fox is treating it that way in Week One, at least based on the coverage map and TV schedule from 506 Sports.
When the Steelers and 49ers kick off at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday at 1 p.m., a large portion of the country will have the matchup on Fox telecast into their homes.
Of course, it helps that the 49ers are in California, creating the need to cover a lot of ground from Fox’s perspective. But these are two massive brands in the NFL, both historically and currently, and there is great interest in the two teams entering the 2023 season, especially with two promising second-year quarterbacks, star playmakers on offense and elite defenses on both sides of the field.
Though it is not technically a nationally broadcast game — that falls to Chiefs-Lions on Thursday night, Cowboys-Giants on Sunday night and Bills-Jets on Monday night — the Steelers-49ers matchup has the largest coverage area of the non-national games in Week One. It outpaces the Browns-Bengals early matchup on CBS, Eagles-Patriots and Broncos-Raiders in the late CBS window, and even Packers-Bears in the late Fox window.
Joe Davis and Daryl Johnston will broadcast the game on Fox between the Steelers and 49ers, while Alex Kemp will serve as the head referee in the marquee season-opening matchup between two Super Bowl hopefuls.
With such a large coverage area from a telecast standpoint, those Steelers fans who don’t live in the Pittsburgh area have a good chance of being able to see the 1 p.m. kickoff between the Steelers and 49ers, depending on where they reside. For more information on the TV schedule and broadcast map, visit 506sports.com.
