1. During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, RedZone host Scott Hanson told viewers that he would be changing his opening catchphrase this season from “Seven hours of commercial-free football starts now” to “Seven hours of RedZone football starts now.”
Give us a preview of what it's gonna sound like on Sunday @ScottHanson #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/fyRcAnoqlQ
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 3, 2025
This caused a MAJOR frenzy among RedZone viewers.
Many of the folks with ESPN Derangement Syndrome immediately blamed the Worldwide Leader for this, as ESPN had just made a deal to distribute RedZone.
Of course, many people forgot that RedZone experimented with commercials LAST season and decided to ignore the fact that ESPN’s only deal with the NFL for RedZone is a distribution deal. ESPN will not be operating or producing RedZone. The NFL will still be doing that.
In addition, the deal for ESPN to distribute RedZone isn’t yet official and still requires clearance from government regulators. But why would anyone worry about a silly thing like facts.
Anyway, The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch got important information from the NFL regarding the addition of commercials to RedZone.
An update from the NFL:
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) September 3, 2025
• The plan is to space a limited number of ads throughout the 7+ hours of the show.
• Double-box ads.
•Viewers will hear the audio of the ads but the other box will show NFL RedZone
"This move has been contemplated and tested for over a year now,… https://t.co/CweVXzfeh0
If you’ve read Traina Thoughts for a while or if you listen to SI Media With Jimmy Traina regularly, you know that I don’t watch RedZone. I’m a Sunday Ticket guy. Always have been, always will be. Game Mix is my life from September to January.
So, maybe I’m not the guy you want to hear from today, but from what Deitsch laid out, this change doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. Yes, going from no commercials to commercials isn't ideal. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. However, they will be limited commercials, and you will never be without RedZone on your screen, thanks to the ads being featured in a double-box.
Nobody likes change, and people love to complain, but I have a feeling that once the first Sunday is in the books, you won’t see many complaints about commercials on RedZone, except from the disingenuous people who want to blame ESPN, even though ESPN has nothing to do with it.
2. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped today, and it features an interview with The Athletic’s sports media reporter, Andrew Marchand.
Topics discussed: Charles Barkley’s recent comments that he still doesn’t know what’s going on with Inside the NBA on ESPN; Fox and ESPN’s over-the-top college football coverage in Week 1; Lee Corso’s perfect ending; Why ESPN dropped Doris Burke and added Tim Legler to its lead NBA crew; Major League Baseball’s television future; ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer product; Ryen Russillo leaving The Ringer and much more.
Following Marchand, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we go through some NFL win total over/unders for the 2025 season, look at Week 1 betting lines and discuss NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
3. The most notable nugget from the Week 1 college football ratings was how much ESPN got hurt by North Carolina being non-competitive against TCU.
That game on Monday night only drew 6.1 million viewers. Here’s how ESPN/ABC’s other big games fared in Week 1:
Notre Dame vs. Miami: 10.8 million
Alabama vs. Florida State: 10.7 million
Clemson vs. LSU: 10.4 million
Meanwhile, the Texas-Ohio State game on Fox drew a whooping 16.6 million viewers.
4. In the battle of college football pregame shows, ESPN trounced Fox on Saturday.
Both shows ran from 9 a.m. ET to Noon ET. College GameDay pulled in 3.5 million viewers. Big Noon Kickoff drew 2 million viewers.
5. Bill Burr on Bill Belichick is worth your time.
Has the media been too hard on Bill Belichick this week for his flat UNC debut?
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) September 3, 2025
Mr. New England himself, @billburr, has some thoughts: pic.twitter.com/U73CvP29di
6. What the hell is going on in Buffalo?
The price of a hot dog at every #NFL stadium 🌭
— Tyler Webb (@tylermwebb) September 3, 2025
(Data via @bookies) pic.twitter.com/RMaWMo803K
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: RIP to designer, Giorgio Armani, who passed away Thursday at 91.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Here’s What You Need to Know About Commercials Coming to ‘RedZone’.
