One of the greatest catchphrases in sports broadcasting will be said no more as the NFL will welcome commercials to RedZone on a full-time basis beginning this season.
“Seven hours of commercial-free football starts now!” May you rest in peace.
Commercials are a significant pain point for sports fans of all shapes, sizes, and interests. It doesn’t matter if it’s football, golf, or anything in between. To a certain point, it’s understandable. Advertising revenue helps make the world go round. But there’s a delicate balance between serving the interests of the league and the interests of fans.
NFL RedZone instituting permanent commercials into what had been an oasis of pure football is where that balance falls apart. Fans can clearly see through this move (that was tested last year) as a pure cash grab that further lines the pockets of the richest sports league in the world.
All day on Wednesday, RedZone was a trending topic on social media. The outcry and angst from football fans made it seem like one of our constitutional rights was being taken away. While it may not be that serious (we think?), it shows just how badly the NFL has misread the situation and how sacred Sunday afternoons truly were to its diehard fans.
NFL Redzone in 2025 pic.twitter.com/mKdm9n3IKC
— chris p (@wggchrisp) September 3, 2025
Surely SOMEONE has to be blamed for this betrayal. That’s why so many people wrongly lashed out at ESPN, even though A) the network hasn’t officially entered into its relationship with the NFL and probably won’t until at least next year, and B) the NFL is maintaining production of RedZone under the agreement anyway.
The truth is that RedZone is watched by a small percentage of football fans every week. But they are the most loyal, the most dedicated, and the most likely to spend big on the league. If you’re watching RedZone, you’re likely already paying $420 for the season pass with Sunday Ticket as a YouTube TV subscriber. Or, you’re getting it direct-to-consumer, perhaps through NFL+ Premium at $14.99 per month.
If ESPN can air F1 races without commercial interruption, surely the NFL could cut fans a break who have paid a premium price for RedZone already, right? Perhaps not.
Streamers accepting ads have become more and more commonplace ever since the subscription model began. And now platforms offer various levels of subscriptions where you can get limited or no advertisements, if you’re willing to pay a premium price, that is. How long is it until the NFL does something similar? You can have your “seven hours of commercial-free football” back… but if you’re willing to pay just a little bit more. You could have your own personal seat license right in your own home!
The NFL inserting commercials on top of the subscription fees already being paid for a premium product is sadly not a new idea, but these dedicated fans now feel like they are being taken advantage of because the NFL knows that they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
It may sound silly and melodramatic to put it this way, but the NFL created a special bond with fans through RedZone. It was the very rare product in modern times that had a 100% approval rating with consumers, built up over years and years of quality sports and entertainment. Nobody left a Sunday dissatisfied watching RedZone. And given the average NFL game contains over 100 commercials, getting to see as much football as humanly possible without interruption was at the very heart of that relationship.
So why has this struck such a nerve? The NFL’s infinite quest for revenue is nothing new. Nearly every single move the NFL has made this millennium has been to get richer. An expanded regular season schedule, against protests about player safety, expanded playoffs, selling off individual games to the highest bidders, putting more and more games behind streaming paywalls, the endless array of gambling ads and partnerships, the list goes on and on and on.
In truth, that’s exactly why this stings so much. Inserting limited side-by-side ads into NFL RedZone is little more than a rounding error for the NFL.
We are coming off a fiscal year where the NFL made $13.8 billion in national revenue. We know this because the Green Bay Packers report their earnings as a public company. This includes broadcast, cable, and streaming revenue from the NFL’s many partners. In fact, last year alone, the NFL’s national revenue grew by an incredible $1 billion.
Fans are smart enough to know that this is only the beginning. Now that the advertising Rubicon has been crossed, there is no going back. What’s to keep these commercial interruptions from being limited in the future? What’s to keep the NFL from going full-screen if they find a significant break in the action for RedZone? How long is it until every touchdown gets a sponsor?
The NFL doesn’t need to force commercials into RedZone. Not even close. But they did it anyway, regardless of how many years it was commercial-free, how fans may feel about it, or anything else. They did it simply because they could.