Will Kentucky football fans in Lexington be able to watch Will Levis in the NFL?

Will Levis’s first NFL start could not have gone much better, but if you were a Kentucky football fan in Lexington hoping to watch the former Wildcats star make his professional debut you were out of luck unless you paid for NFL Sunday Ticket.

While Levis was throwing four touchdown passes in a 28-23 win over the Falcons, WKYT, the CBS affiliate in Lexington, was airing Jacksonville at Pittsburgh. Some fans in southwestern Kentucky closer to the Nashville market saw the Titans game as normal on their CBS affiliates, but the majority of the state was unable to watch Levis play.

The good news for UK fans is it might soon be easier to watch Levis play for the Titans, but the NFL broadcast structure will still limit those opportunities.

Since Lexington is considered a primary market for the Cincinnati Bengals, WKYT will always show the Bengals game when Cincinnati is playing on CBS. If the Bengals are playing in the Thursday, Sunday or Monday night games on other networks or playing an NFC team in a game broadcast by Fox, CBS gives WKYT a two-week notice on flex options for the week it will not have a Bengals game to air.

While the sports department does not make the decision as to which game WKYT will select in those scenarios, according to sports anchor Lee K. Howard, the station’s management does consider local storylines in making those decisions. It is likely the Titans game will be the pick when available as long as Levis is starting.

Levis and the Titans play the Thursday night game this week, which will be streamed nationally on Amazon Prime. The Titans will play another national broadcast on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” in Week 14.

The Bengals and Titans are currently scheduled to play in the same time slot on the same network just twice more (weeks 10 and 18), according to 506sports.com. Titans games against NFC teams in week 12 and week 17 are slotted for Fox broadcasts.

That leaves four weeks (11, 13, 15 and 16) where the Titans game should be an option for CBS to air locally on WKYT if Levis is still starting.

Former Kentucky quarterback Will Levis tied an NFL record with four touchdown passes in his debut Sunday against the Falcons.

What Will Levis NFL success could do for Kentucky football

Regardless of how often Titans games are shown in Lexington, his former Kentucky coaches are already reveling in his strong debut.

“Any time a kid goes and has that kind of success in his first career start after the last year that he’s had — he was in such a good place,” said offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who talked to Levis by phone this week. “I talked to him the week of the game, and he sounded so confident. Then obviously he went out and had that kind of experience.”

After transferring from Penn State prior to the 2021 season, Levis transformed from a run-first backup into a top NFL draft prospect during a breakout season as Kentucky’s starter. His injury-plagued senior season failed to live up to the hype, but he still spent most of draft season projected as a possible top-10 pick.

On draft night, cameras swarmed around Levis and his family in the NFL draft green room as he slid out of the first round. He was eventually drafted by the Titans with the second pick in the second round.

Levis opened the season as the Titans’ No. 3 quarterback behind returning starter Ryan Tannehill and 2022 third-round pick Malik Willis. After Tannehill was injured, Titans coach Mike Vrabel announced Levis would start against the Falcons but split time with Willis.

The Titans stuck to that plan, but Levis made it difficult to keep him off the field moving forward by completing 19 of 29 passes for 238 yards and four touchdowns. The four touchdowns tied an NFL record for a debut.

Vrabel has not committed to Levis as the starter when Tannehill returns from an ankle injury, but the fact that reports suggested the Titans were willing to listen to offers for Tannehill prior to Tuesday’s trade deadline suggests a full-time transition is coming.

“He looked so good back there,” UK coach Mark Stoops said of Levis. “He looked comfortable, just like we thought. He’s in a great place, he’s going to do very well, we’re very proud of him.”

Stoops, Coen and UK’s other coaches alternated between watching film of their loss to Tennessee and Titans offensive series when Levis was on the field at the UK practice facility Sunday. Since the game, UK’s marketing department has already flooded social media with posts celebrating Levis’s debut and his time as a Wildcat.

Levis was the first Kentucky quarterback to throw a touchdown pass in the NFL since Tim Couch retired in 2003. His college success and draft hype already helped the Wildcats land top transfer quarterback Devin Leary for this season and four-star Lexington Christian Academy quarterback Cutter Boley in the 2024 high school class.

But consistent NFL success for Levis could have more positive impact moving forward.

“I think it helps with the guys in the locker room, with the belief, with the recruiting, with just knowing it is possible,” Coen said. “You can do that from here. That’s the goal.”