 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Inglewood,California, U.S. |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) (HD feed downgraded toletterboxed480i forSDTV sets) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | National Football League (Sale toESPN Inc. pending) |
| Sister channels | NFL Network |
| History | |
| Launched | September 13, 2009; 16 years ago (2009-09-13) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
NFL RedZone (stylized asNFL RedZone from NFL Network) is an Americansports television channel owned and operated byNFL Network since 2009. It is named after the term "red zone", the part of the football field between the 20-yard line and the goal line. As a "special" game-day exclusive, it broadcasts on Sundays during theNFL regular season from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.Eastern (10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.Pacific), or when the next-to-last afternoon window game ends.RedZone provides "whip around"simulcast coverage of all Sunday afternoon games airing in-progress onCBS andFox.
RedZone is based out of theNFL Network studios and is hosted byScott Hanson.[1] The channel prides itself on showing "every touchdown from every game," and is closely linked toFantasy Football,[1] reporting superlatives and tracking various statistical accomplishments throughout the afternoon.RedZone monitors coverage of the traditional Sunday 1:00 p.m. "early" games and 4:05/4:25 p.m. "late" games.
RedZone is offered by numerous pay TV providers.DIRECTV aired a separate, similar program which was replaced byNFL RedZone in autumn 2023. This change was made whenYouTube purchased the rights to the out-of-marketNFL Sunday Ticket package.
In August 2025,ESPN announcedRedzone would also became part of itsnew direct-to-consumer package.[2]
RedZone is also broadcast live internationally. In theUnited Kingdom it is shown on theSky Sports Mix television channel, and in Canada, Germany and Italy onDAZN, every Sunday and for the full seven hours. It is a directsimulcast of the American feed, with no commercial breaks, live coverage of both the early and late games and Hanson hosting. The major difference is that when there is only one Sunday afternoon game left being played, international viewers will be able to see it to its conclusion onRedZone, while domestic viewers will be switched immediately to the day's highlights to protect CBS/Fox and NFL Sunday Ticket still televising the game.
On game day, theRedZone channelsigns-on at 12:45 p.m., US Eastern time. The countdown clock counts down the minutes and seconds until the start of the game coverage. As of December 6, 2020, the channel has featured 200 weeks of coverage since its debut.[3][4]
At 1:00 p.m. (Eastern) theRedZone program begins, and immediately dives into live look-ins across the league. HostScott Hanson gives a brief introduction of the day, highlighting key developing stories, as teams are typically already lining up for opening kickoff. Coverage of the opening kickoffs and a cursory look at early drives that are being established are the initial focus. Coverage is normally shown in full-screen, with one particular game as the primary focus for the moment.
The coverage is a direct simulcast of theCBS orFox broadcast feed and commentary, with only occasional and usually brief voice-over comments by Hanson as needed. Coverage sometimes switches tosplit-screen, with two, three, four ("quad-box"[1]), five ("Penta-box"), eight ("Octo-box"[1]), or as many as ten ("Deca-box"[1]) game feeds being shown simultaneously. Producers in the studio monitor all game feeds in-progress, and decide which game to feature at any given moment.NFL television rules are exempted forRedZone, and live look-ins of games that are subject toblackout are still allowed to be aired in all markets.
Whenever a team enters thered zone, the coverage will switch to a full-screen live look-in of that game's television broadcast. It will attempt to cover a potential scoring result (touchdown or field goal). Meanwhile, the other games continue to be monitored, in case the need arises to switch to another feed at short notice. Field goal attempts from outside the red zone are sometimes shown, either live or in replay, if they pose significance to the outcome of the respective game.
As the games enter halftime, the coverage shifts over to games still finishing up the second quarter, even if there are no teams in the red zone. Some noncompetitive games that would otherwise not be looked at may take the attention for a few minutes, in order to fill the broadcast with as much live football coverage as possible. As soon as better games start returning for the third quarter, second half kickoffs typically take a priority.
If there are no teams in the red zone at a given moment, the focus may shift to a team on a strong offensive drive, or an otherwise important game of the day. Despite the channel's moniker, a team does not have to be inside thered zone for the focus and coverage to shift to that game. During the latter portion of the season, extra sidebar attention may be given to teams fighting for playoff berths, and the respective status thereof. The "whip around" coverage also is used to show quick replays of major plays such as turnovers, deep pass completions, very long runs from scrimmage, kickoff/punt return touchdowns, and other potentially interesting or important key plays. The "Game Rewind" feature is sometimes used to replay a significant play that resulted in a particular team entering the red zone.
Hanson rarely takes any kind of rest break during RedZone's seven hours on the air,[5] and since the early years of the channel he has purposefully planned out his eating and drinking schedule during the regular season to avoid any need for arestroom break, having boasted on Twitter on December 10, 2017 (that year's Week 14) about his first restroom break in four years of NFL RedZone coverage.[6]
It is not unusual forRedZone to switch between two or more games in quick succession, even between individual plays. Despite an effort made by producers to air all touchdownslive, some scoring plays are actually aired after a very brieftime shift – ranging from as much as 30 to 60 seconds – sometimes because another scoring play is unfolding elsewhere. Time shifting can also occur if the scoring play happened unexpectedly, and/or initiated from outside the red zone. In those cases, the coverage is aired plausibly live with no mention that the coverage is slightly behind real time (though Hanson often tries to introduce the switch with some kind of segue, such as 'while we were watching that (play)...' to note it isn't live video).
When the 1 p.m. "early" games are in the fourth quarter, the focus of attention begins to narrow down toone-possession games (games within 8 points); Hanson will additionally introduce the fourth quarter coverage as "The Witching Hour; where wins become losses, and losses become wins".[7][8] As the "early" games begin to conclude,RedZone seamlessly leads into coverage of the 4:05/4:25 p.m. "late" games. On afternoons in which early game action ends sooner than expected, extended statistical rundowns, highlights, and coverage of team press conferences may be used to fill the time before the late games start. Early games which go into overtime are usually prioritized, but never at the expense of missing touchdowns in other games that just started. When each game is concluded, a final score alert will flash on the bottom corner of the screen to inform viewers. This is especially important for games that have not had a live look-in for many minutes.
Periodically throughout the afternoon, producers keep track of and update viewers on the status offantasy football statistics, and/or other statistical superlatives.[1] With the legalization ofsports betting in several states beginning in 2020, it also points out theover–under and certain betting statistics provided by league partnerCaesars Sportsbook. The channel's priority, however, is to show every touchdown scored in every game throughout the afternoon. During the entire day,RedZone features aticker at the bottom of the screen, updating scores and stats throughout the league. The ticker is situated in such a way that it is superimposed over the respective tickers of CBS andFOX.
On occasion, technical difficulties could prevent RedZone from showing certain touchdowns live. During Week 1 in the 2019 season, a technical issue with the CBS broadcast prevented a live look at a touchdown in theKansas City Chiefs-Jacksonville Jaguars game; the touchdown was later shown using video from the scoreboard atTIAA Bank Field.[9][10] Similar issues during Week 2 in 2020 prevented two touchdowns in theBuffalo Bills-Miami Dolphins game from being broadcast live; both touchdowns were later aired on replay (with one aired from the Dolphins' Instagram feed).[11][12][13]
RedZone operates as a limited-commercial service; as such, whenever a game taking primary focus goes to a broadcaster-designated commercial break or other stoppage (such as timeout, instant replay challenge or an injury timeout), the feed will immediately switch to the next most-interesting game in-progress at the moment.
Commercial breaks are not completely avoided however, as sometimes the network coverage may take a break faster than expected, causing the first second or two of a commercial to air, before RedZone quickly cuts to another game, which usually includes Hanson jokingly playing off the brush with the accompanying commercial break with some kind of snark. Additionally, broadcast network promotions of their programming (most notably CBS and Fox promoting their Sunday night primetime lineups) will be shown as a natural part of the coverage.
If all games being held at a given moment are on a commercial break or in halftime, coverage will revert to the studio for brief commentary, replays, or statistical analysis by Hanson. In the "late" timeslot (when there are fewer games to choose from), highlight packages of selected "early" games may be shown during down times.
In recent years, theRedZone broadcast has had a presenting sponsor (such asAmazon Prime Video. and laterDraftKings) along with other sponsored segments around statistics and superlatives, but had not broadcast its own commercial breaks.[14] On December 15, 2024,RedZone began to quietly "test" a limited number of commercial breaks, airing in asplit screen "double-box" alongside live gameplay. This elicited criticism from viewers, especially due to host Scott Hanson's still using his traditional sign-on promising "seven hours of commercial-free football". The NFL responded to the criticism, stating that this was a "test" and there as of yet were no long-term plans to add commercials toRedZone. The limited commercial breaks returned the following week, with Hanson notably amending his sign-on to no longer mention that the broadcast was commercial-free.[15][16][17]
During an appearance onThe Pat McAfee Show, Hanson confirmedRedZone will incorporate commercial breaks starting with the2025 NFL season, marking the end of its longstanding commercial‑free format, which further elicited criticism from viewers.[18] Later clarification made clear that they would be limited in the first few weeks, with only four fifteen-second ads throughout each edition as part of a double-box graphic with game action remaining on the screen over the ad's audio, and not during actual red zone action.[19]
As the 4:05/4:25 p.m. "late" games begin to arrive at their conclusions, coverage will narrow down to the remaining games still ongoing. When the moment arrives at which there is only one game left being played, coverage will change depending on whether viewers are in the United States or outside the country. For those in the United States, they will be instructed by the host that they will need to switch to the applicable network to watch that game to its conclusion. This rule applies even in the rare event that the only game remaining is a regional broadcast (4:05 p.m. start) on the non-doubleheader network (and thus still be on the out-of-marketNFL Sunday Ticket package), which has on at least one occasion led to the host unintentionally providing misleading information about that game's availability.[20] International viewers are instead switched directly to the remaining game's network feed to its conclusion, irrespective of its competitiveness.
At the conclusion of the coverage, an editedmontage of every touchdown scored throughout the afternoon is aired. Until 2018, due to contractual obligations,RedZone was required tosign off no later than 8:00 p.m., even if a late afternoon game(s) was still in progress; this was due to avoid a conflict withNBC's Sunday night game broadcast. This was rectified in the 2019 season, such that any game that ends after 8:00 p.m. would continue airing onRedZone until its conclusion, provided that there is still more than 1 game in progress. If theRedZone signs-off with inadequate time for the touchdown montage (which can vary from 5–10 minutes in duration), it will be posted online instead. At the onset, the total number of touchdowns for the afternoon by type (offensive, defensive, and special teams) is listed on a graphic, with a running tally for the entire season also shown.
In some cases, when games are running close to the 8:00 p.m. deadline, the touchdown montage has been shown in asplit-screen format. The montage is shown in a prominent square with audio, while the game still being played is shown in a lesser square in the corner of the screen without audio. This is done particularly when the game still being played is a nationally televised game – a situation in which most viewers in most markets across the country (per NFL television rules) could simply switch to CBS or FOX to watch the game to its conclusion.[21]
After the broadcast day ends (≈ 8:00 p.m.[22])RedZone remainsdark until the following Sunday. During the week, as well as during playoffs and off-season, a generictitle card advertisement is shown, accompanied by music fromNFL Films. However, cable providers may overlay their own tie-in title card. Providers are disallowed from using the channel space for other purposes during its off-time.
While theRedZone channel is only utilized for Sunday 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. (Eastern) games, in the unique instance in which Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, and the full slate of Week 16 afternoon games is switched to Saturday, theRedZone channel is activated for that Saturday afternoon schedule.
RedZone is not on-air duringThursday night,Sunday night,Monday night, and any stand-alone Saturday night games, nor forNFL International Series games which are scheduled in an early Sunday morning timeslot. It also does not coverThanksgiving games orpostseason games.
During the offseason breaks since the 2016 season,NFL Network has re-ran the previous season'sRedZone presentations. During seventeen selected Sunday afternoons in the spring and early summer, all seventeen weeks of the regular season as seen onRedZone are re-aired, with editing for length and content and ad breaks inserted.
The 2019 re-run of the season was compressed in April 2020 to air throughout the month on consecutive days on a thrice-daily loop on the RedZone channel space, due to thecoronavirus pandemic leaving the network wanting of content not involving live studio shows for the safety of their staff, as their facilities in California and the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area were closed due tostay-at-home orders and to allow NFL Network's traditional Draft run-up shows to air. Another rerun of seventeen consecutive days was done during what is usually the pre-season in late August, which was cancelled out in full, leaving the channel without its usual preview night in the last week of the pre-season.[23][24]
Through 2013, during select nights of thepreseason, special "whip around" coverage aired on the primaryNFL Network. It followed the same style asRedZone and utilized the same production team and host.
Starting in 2014, preseason "whip around" coverage moved to theRedZone channel itself. On four selected nights in AugustRedZone aired as part of afree preview of the service for all providers. Week 1 (Friday), and weeks 2–3 (Saturday) of the preseason featured the familiar "whip around" coverage. The broadcast utilized national and local team coverage feeds, as most preseason games are carried throughregional sports networks or 'state/team networks' made up of local broadcast stations. Coverage started at 7:00 p.m. ET
In 2015,RedZone aired a free preview during the preseason for five selected nights, and during Week 1 of the regular season. In 2016,RedZone aired a free preview on four selected nights during the preseason starting August 11 and during Week 1 of the regular season. In 2017, RedZone aired only once during preseason.
The RedZone Channel is available on most American pay television providers carrying the NFL Network,[25][26][27][28][29][30] and is presented in both standard and high definition; availability of the channel depends on the service tier. Some carriers might carry NFL Network available on their main digital tier, whileRedZone might be relegated to a digital sports tier at an additional cost. Access to the network is available through the Watch NFL Network mobile app via a subscriber'sTV Everywhere credentials if offered by their provider, or through a provider's own viewing app. Before the2018 season, the app was one of the few exceptions where some form of access to NFL games is offered beyondVerizon Wireless subscribers due to that provider's mobile rights exclusivity (That season, Verizon-ownedYahoo Sports opened its live NFL streams to users from other mobile phone providers).[31]
Including the 18 Sundays of theNFL regular season, and as many as five special broadcasts during thepreseason,RedZone broadcasts a total of 18–22 days out of the year.
In the United Kingdom, NFL RedZone is broadcast in full onSky Sports Mix.[32]
Between 2014 and 2019, NFL RedZone aired in Australia onESPN Australia.[33][34]
In Canada, starting in2020, NFL RedZone is included for subscribers ofTSN through TSN.ca and the TSN Go mobile app.[35] It is also included with TSN+. A French-language version is also available onRDS.ca and RDS Direct.[36][37]
ESPN Latin America began to air NFL RedZone in 2016.[38] It features two pairs of Spanish-language announcers, one for the early games and another for the late games.
In Spain, starting in2021, NFL RedZone is broadcast in full onDeportes por Movistar Plus+.[39]
RedZone has generally received favorable to positive reviews,[40][41] and its product has been referred to as a form ofnew media.[41] Some complaints deal with viewers not seeing equal coverage of all games across the league, the inability to see outstanding defensive team performances (outside of defensive scores), and emphasis on individual players instead of teams.[40] Games in the "early" time slot that becomeblowouts are sometimes completely ignored (except for very brief replays of touchdowns to maintain the promise of showing "every touchdown from every game", or merely to fill time when other games are in commercial) Likewise a scoreless, or very low scoring game, will not garner much attention either until the end of the game if still tied. Furthermore, many fans still prefer to watch complete games.[41] Other complaints include middling games without playoff ordraft positioning implications being nearly pushed off the channel in the last weeks of the season, with only cursory glances at highlights, fantasy stats, and scores for those match-ups.[42]
One source of criticism stems fromRedZone potentially drawing viewers away from the traditional broadcasts onCBS andFox, and likewise devaluing the commercial values for advertisers.[43] In the2021 NFL season, when Fox had 100% national coverage for the two late games during Week 3, the network removed its own ticker and moved its scoreboard graphic during these games, causing its bottom half (which displayed the clock and yardage) to be cut off byRedZone'sticker. The decision was believed to be an attempt to encourage viewers to watch the game on their local Fox station instead. Initially, this promptedRedZone to overlay its own scoreboard graphic. In2022,RedZone began to simply hide its ticker entirely when simulcasting Fox games with a lower scoreboard,[44][45] and in Week 2 of the2025 season (after CBS adopted a new scoreboard graphic with a lower position similar to Fox)RedZone began to simply scale the feeds for all games to fit above the ticker with stylizedpillarboxing.[46]
In December 2024, NFL RedZone, known for its "seven hours of commercial-free football," introduced split-screen advertisements during its Week 15 broadcast, featuring brands like Gatorade and Verizon. This unexpected move prompted significant backlash from viewers, who valued the uninterrupted nature of the program. Host Scott Hanson, who had commenced the broadcast with the traditional "commercial-free" promise, later apologized for the oversight, acknowledging the error and emphasizing his commitment to accuracy and integrity. In response to the controversy, the NFL stated that the commercials were part of a test and that there were no immediate plans to continue airing ads during the remainder of the 2024 season. Subsequently, in Week 16, Hanson adjusted his opening line to "seven hours of RedZone football," omitting the "commercial-free" phrase, reflecting the potential for future advertising integrations, which became true beginning in the 2025 season, prompting more significant backlash from viewers.
During Week 12 coverage in November 2023, a fire alarm went off at the Inglewood NFL Network studio which interrupted a live RedZone broadcast which resulted in Hanson and the RedZone production team being evacuated from the studio briefly leading to the RedZone broadcast to be fixed on the Bills vs. Eagles game from that week. The alarm later turned out to a false alarm and Hanson returned to the studio and the broadcast resumed normally. The alarm did not impact the Ravens vs Chargers game which took place atSoFi Stadium, across the street from the studio.[47]
TheNFL RedZone channel should not be confused with the former nearly identicalRed Zone Channel, a service that was included as part ofDirecTV'sout-of-market sports packageNFL Sunday Ticket, and was hosted byAndrew Siciliano.[1][48]
Despite their similar names and formats, the two channels were independent from each other, and the DirecTV service launched ahead of the NFL Network-runRedZone. In December 2022, with the announcement that rights to NFL Sunday Ticket would move exclusively to YouTube, it was confirmed that the service will not produce its own equivalent, and would simply distributeRedZone.[49] Its final broadcast was January 8, 2023.[50]
ESPN Goal Line aired live look-ins ofcollege football games in a similar format and style asNFL RedZone. Hosted by Matt Schick. Established in 2010, the channel ceased operations in 2020.
Apart from theRedZone channel, a similar service is aired parallel onSirius XM NFL Radio, hosted by "Judge" Steve Torre and Bill Lekas. (Zach Gelb fills in when Torre is unavailable.)[51] During the Sunday afternoon games,The Sunday Drive monitors all games in progress across the league. Any time a team enters the red zone, they will cut-in to the team's live local radio broadcast to cover potential scoring action. Until 2014 (when it was replaced by the studio showNFL GameDay Live), this audio was also carried on NFL Network during Sunday afternoon games, overlaid with textual scores and stats to avert any form of competition with the league's broadcast partners. In the past it featured more of a "carousel" type of format where reporters at each game would check in via telephone with the basic score, scoring plays and statistics, as mostsports radio networks and stations that do not carry game play-by-play do.
Similar toThe Sunday Drive above,Learfield provides a whip-around radio service for college football that airs onSirius XM'sESPNU Radio service and Learfield'sThe Varsity Network app (and was formerly streamed onTuneIn before The Varsity Network's launch), for schools that utilize Learfield to produce and distribute their broadcasts.[52][53] Starting in 2015,College Football Blitz airs on Saturdays during college football season from noon to midnightEastern time, and likeThe Sunday Drive, cuts into local team broadcasts for possible scoring action.[54][53] The show is hosted by Stephen Hartzell, with Phil Brame and Adam Witten sometimes taking over for evening hours.[53][55][56]
TheNBA produces a whiparound show calledNBA CrunchTime, available via the NBA App, featuring live look-ins of NBA games. The show has aired onNBA TV since the2015–16 NBA season and started broadcasts on the NBA App in 2022.[57][58] Airing on every Monday night from 8:30 PM to 1 AM Eastern time the following day (with special editions on other nights of the week as the NBA's national television schedule allows),NBA CrunchTime is hosted by Jared Greenberg and Channing Frye.[59][60][61] To protect the broadcast rights of the variousregional sports networks that air NBA games, each game is limited to five live lookins, and the show has restrictions on airing highlights from games between six and two minutes left in the 4th quarter.[60][62]
During theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament (March Madness), the NCAA provides whiparound coverage of the first weekend of games under theFast Break banner, available via theMarch Madness Live internet streaming platform and mobile app. The show began airing in 2018 and provides live coverage via theNCAA March Madness television broadcasts, jointly aired by CBS and TNT Sports; originally confined to the first round of games, the broadcast expanded to cover the entire first weekend the next year.[63][64]
Major League Baseball producesMLB Big Inning, a whiparound program showing live look-ins of MLB games, every night during the MLB season starting at 9:30 PM Eastern time.[65][66] Originally launched in 2021 exclusively to subscribers ofMLB.tv, the program expanded toApple TV+ subscribers in 2022 as part of the deal that also broughtFriday Night Baseball to the streaming service.[65][67] MLB Big Inning is also simulcast onMLB Network on select nights, albeit with limited commercial interruption.
The channel served as the de facto replacement forMLB Whiparound, a program with a similar format that aired onFox Sports 1 from 2014 to 2020. Beginning in the2026 season,Peacock is expected to begin streaming a whiparound show on Sunday afternoons.[68]
Whiparound shows in theNational Hockey League are complicated by the league having separate national broadcasters in Canada and the United States (as of 2024[update],Sportsnet andAmazon Prime in Canada,ESPN andTNT Sports in the United States), with separate whiparound coverage being produced in both markets as a result. In March 2018, Sportsnet debuted a whiparound show namedIce Surfing to be broadcast viaTwitter, the show continued to air through the2019–20 NHL season.[69][70][71] In 2024, as part of Sportsnet selling rights toMonday Night Hockey toAmazon Prime Video, the latter began airingNHL Coast to Coast on Thursday nights.[72]
In 2023, ESPN announced that it would produceNHL Frozen Frenzy, a one-off whiparound show on October 24 of that year; the date was chosen because all 32NHL teams would play that night. The show aired onESPN2 andESPN+.[73][74] A second iteration of NHL Frozen Frenzy aired on October 22, 2024;[75] a third iteration of NHL Frozen Frenzy aired on October 28, 2025.[76]
Whiparound programs have also been produced for professionalsoccer leagues.NBC Sports launchedGoal Rush in 2016, providing whiparound coverage of theEnglish Premier League. The show began airing on the NBC Sports app and NBCSports.com, moving toPeacock when the service launched in 2020.[77] In 2020,CBS Sports began airingThe Golazo Show onCBS Sports Network andParamount+ with coverage of theUEFA Champions League andEuropa League matches.[78] In 2023, with the launch ofMLS Season Pass, theApple TV+ platform launchedMLS 360, presenting live whiparound coverage forMajor League Soccer.[79] ESPN also launched aBundesliga whiparound in the US market in fall 2023.[80] In England, BT Sport (now TNT Sports) has used whiparound content for the Champions League and Europa League and Conference League since 2015.
For the2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, NBC producedGold Zone, providing whiparound coverage of the Olympic events onPeacock. Hanson and Siciliano were announced as Gold Zone hosts, along withMatt Iseman andJac Collinsworth.[81][82] NBC would later announce thatGold Zone would return for the2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, along with Hanson returning as host.[83]
Last season [2017], Verizon customers got subscription-free access on phones to whatever CBS or Fox was broadcasting regionally on Sunday afternoons, plus all the nationally televised games on NBC, ESPN and NFL Network. Now, any wireless customer can get them on both phones and tablets.