Streaming · Plain-English answer
Sometimes, but not reliably. Blackouts are enforced by checking your location, usually through your IP address, and a VPN changes the location your IP reports. However, mobile apps often use GPS as well, which a VPN cannot alter, and bypassing blackouts normally breaches the streaming service's terms of use.
Leagues sell exclusive local broadcast rights, so streaming services must hide games in the regions where a local broadcaster paid for them. Enforcement starts with your IP address: if it resolves inside the blackout zone, the game is blocked even though you pay for the service.
On desktop browsers the IP check is usually the whole story. Mobile and TV apps increasingly add device level location, reading GPS or nearby Wi-Fi networks, and some services require location permission before playing anything at all.
A VPN moves your apparent IP location outside the blackout zone, which is often enough on a laptop or a streaming box without GPS. Where an app reads real device location, the VPN changes nothing, because GPS does not pass through the tunnel.
Two honest caveats. Circumventing blackouts is against the terms of essentially every sports service, so account penalties are possible. And services actively block known VPN addresses, so results vary week to week. A VPN changes where you appear to be, nothing more.
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