Many of our friends down in Columbus know what it’s like to not know exactly which games will be on TV every week. I’m sure it’s a pain in the neck, but know that it could be worse. Apparently being caught between the Bills, Browns, Steelers, Eagles and Lions in varied proportions has made Erie Pennsylvania the most tortured NFL TV market according to Deadspin.
Sweet, sweet victory! Fifty-four percent of Erie’s Sunday afternoon games involved one of 2012′s s****y teams, including 10 Bills games (63 percent of Buffalo’s Sunday afternoon games) and nine Browns games (56 percent). Despite being further west, Erie still managed to pick up four Eagles games (33 percent) and four Jets games (29 percent); what’s more, Erie wandered a little close to the Midwest and got hit with three Lions games (25 percent). To top it all off, the city got only nine Steelers games, just 75 percent of the team’s Sunday afternoon total.
I have known people from Erie all my life and I know that it used to be a much stronger Browns market. Obviously the Steelers have made inroads there since the 90s when the Browns were (even more) irrelevant. In all seriousness, this is one of the battlegrounds where Jimmy Haslam can pick up some marginal Browns fans. There is a history of Browns fans in Erie at least historically. Maybe he can find a way to re-ignite it. Plus, if the Browns were a good and exciting team, they would no longer become a knock on the TV.
[Related: Mike Polk blasts Browns coaching search with (tragic) comedy]
