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From the moment NFL RedZone aired its first advertisement in 2024, viewers worried it was only a matter of time before what was once sold as “seven hours of commercial-free football” would be overrun by ads.
Those fears ultimately came true by the end of the 2025 season. But Scott Hanson insists that this year will be different.
“I could tell you from where we ended last year, there will not be more,” the longtime RedZone host told Front Office Sports’s Baker Machado this week. “In fact, the actual ads that you see, there will be fewer of what we call the 15-second commercials with the audio going and the product and whatnot.”
After RedZone initially ran four 15-second split-screen ads as a trial in 2024, the whiparound show’s ad inventory increased dramatically the following year. By one count, RedZone aired 16 advertisements in one form or another during Week 13, a significant shift for a product that was previously—and proudly—commercial-free.
While some have assumed that the ad creep would continue in 2026, Hanson insists that won’t be the case. That’s not to say there won’t still be some commercial elements—including some actual commercials. But at least the early portion of the season won’t include as many as the end of the 2025 campaign did.
“Because we’ve done things like the ‘Mercedes-Benz Drive of the Day’ or the ‘Allstate Good Hands Play of the Day’—we’ve done those things, but that’s not considered an outright commercial,” Hanson said. “But the 15-second, ‘okay, we’re on the Dallas Cowboys, first and 10, they get five yards, they’re walking back to the huddle, and then we interject that 15 second standalone commercial?’ There will be fewer at the beginning of the year this year than we ended with at the end of last year. I can confirm that.”
Just as he did when he spoke with FOS at the Super Bowl earlier this year, Hanson emphasized that decisions regarding ad breaks are above his paygrade. A source tells FOS that while ESPN is taking over the linear distribution of RedZone this season, the NFL will continue to control its format, including its commercial structure.
Despite his comments, Hanson said he knows that many viewers will still be counting any ads that appear on their screen next Sunday and beyond. And although he couldn’t guarantee that more won’t appear later in the season, he also expressed a commitment to showing each week’s most important plays.
“Our promise to you is we never miss a touchdown,” he said. “We only sneak these in when the team is walking back to the huddle during at least a little bit of a dead period in the game, and it’s one 15-second standalone commercial at a time… I would just tell fans this: if you loved RedZone two years ago before there was ever a 15 second standalone commercial, try us this year and see if it’s not still the show that you love to watch and set your calendar by every year. I think we will deliver the way we always have for our great fans.”
