With baseball season getting underway in Northern California, the San Jose Sharks' game against the Columbus Blue Jackets was pushed to NBC Sports California Plus, the alternate channel for NBC Sports California in order to make room for the Athletics' game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
There was one issue though. Fans from across the Sharks' market who rely on Google's YouTube TV were unable to tune into the game.
Despite YouTube TV being listed as a provider of the channel and popping up in local listings, fans from all across the Sharks' TV market were unable to tune in. Host of the Locked On Sharks Podcast, JD Young, mentioned that the game was unavailable in Fresno. Meanwhile fans in the Bay Area spoke about similar issues with people from San Francisco and even San Jose itself being unable to get access to the game.
Since YouTube TV subscribers are still within the Sharks' market despite being unable to access the game, they were also unable to gain access through ESPN+. As a result, it was easier for fans outside of Northern California to gain access to the Sharks game than local fans.
This will likely be an issue for the remainder of the season, as Monday's game against the St. Louis Blues will also be pushed to NBC Sports California Plus and it probably won't be the last.