Football matches are perfect for TV. Like most sports, football provides a natural break at the end of each quarter or half of the game and after the team scores, and television broadcasts can cut into ads. Unlike other sports, football has a need to replace every player on the field in a comprehensive way, which provides broadcasters with more advertising opportunities as players run out and run on the field.
Football fans know a lot before they sit down and watch: they have to endure a lot of beer, trucks and other ads. That’s why NFL Redzone without these fillers is so magical to create. Since its inception in 2009, Redzone has flocked to life every Sunday of the season, with host Scott Hanson proclaiming: “Seven hours of commercial-free football now!”
Then, at yesterday’s Pat McAfee show, Hansen confirmed that the era of no commercial red zones is over.
Give us a preview of what Sunday sounds like @Scottthanson #pmslive pic.twitter.com/fyrcanoqlq
– Pat McAfee (@patmcafeeshow) September 3, 2025
ESPN and NFL transactions
The new era of the red zone began with ESPN taking charge. ESPN is getting NFL network As well as other NFL assets including Redzone, the deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in ESPN. The 7-hour red zone coverage bounced from game to game on Sunday afternoon, showing every touchdown in each game was obviously too valuable for ESPN to allow them to stay commercially-free.
It remains to be seen how long Redzone’s business breaks and how long they will last, but Hansen stressed that Redzone will continue to focus on displaying each score on Sunday afternoon.
“We won’t sacrifice any great football for any business aspect,” Hansen told McAfee. “We won’t miss the touchdown.”
Nothing lasts
Like most NFL fans, I both resigned and disappointed. With the amount of money the NFL makes and the popularity of the Redzone channel, I know it won’t stay commercially useless forever. But I’m worried about how different the experiences in the red zone will be at the beginning of this season. Anything else besides the minimal and brief ad break could undermine Scott Hanson’s flow, resulting in seamless whip coverage.
As a Cleveland Browns fan, I have been a regular Redzone audience over the years. Most seasons, keeping the label of players on my fantasy football team via Redzone is more fun than following another sad Brown season. The real tragedy here could be a business-rich red zone that brought me back to watching the Browns in full, an event that is almost guaranteed to negatively affect my emotional well-being.
Again, if the ads drive me away from Redzone, maybe I’ll be hiking this fall. In this way, I will forget the pain for at least a few hours, which hurts everything that is true and kind in this world for the benefit of my powerless NFL team and corporate.
