Why is ESPN ruining NFL RedZone?

Until this week, NFL RedZone stood alone as an untainted representation of hyper fandom in the sports television arena, in the midst of what Cory Doctorow labeled the “enshittification” of everything. The channel, exclusive to NFL Sundays, promised every highlight, every score and what narrator and host Scott Hanson branded “seven hours of commercial-free football”. For the multitude of Americans who lacked the funds to pay for all the games on Sunday Ticket, or an at-home assemblage of televisions to create their own octo-box, RedZone was the perfect compliment to your main game – a running second screen of every big play, with the fantasy and gambling information to boot. The thrill of hearing the clock strike at the beginning of “the witching hour, when wins become losses and losses become wins,” was a moment of nationwide fan solidarity delivered direct to your couch.

Such purity cannot last without corruption, and oh were we so young and innocent to believe otherwise. That promise has turned to ash and dust with the launch of commercials during the broadcast, a clear precedent for larger and more ubiquitous ad content once the channel makes the jump from ownership by the league itself to the greedy House of Mouse next year. And in such effort, ESPN rolled out their most corporate spokesmen this week – the affable Pat McAfee in his trademark black wife-beater, maintaining that no fans are angry about the ads, and Adam Schefter (who had previously tweeted about RedZone just once) posting repeatedly about the de minimis nature of the ad invasion. They even forced (if not at gunpoint) the man himself, Scott Hanson, to rep the new ad regime:

He added in a follow-up post:

1.  No one told me to post this.
2.  The 4 total commercials tomorrow will be: 15 seconds and in a double box, in between plays.  *none* during the Witching Hour.
3.  Adding commercials was not a @Disney @espn decision.  
4.  Opening catch phrase will change – (you & I will have to get used to it together.)
5.   Sending you this info because if roles were reversed, I would want *you* to tell *me*. 

That last point is the key, because it indicates where things are headed – with beer, trucks, fast food and the LiMu Emu on the horizon. And what after that? Well, they’ll make RedZone+ and charge you double. Consumers are already willing to shell out about 12 bucks a month for a channel they only tune into for one afternoon 18 weeks a year – why not charge them 20 to get the “Whopper Whopper Whopper Whopper” song out of their head? If you don’t like being pounded with even more product placement, just turn it off. Who told you you had to buy all $750-plus of services to see every game? Maybe you’re the one with the problem.

There is something else interesting going on here though, which threatens RedZone and its seemingly exclusive hold on this all-highlight feed. During Friday’s Chiefs-Chargers game in Brazil, broadcaster YouTube invited multiple major YouTube personalities to host along with the game, providing their own coverage and running commentary. They haven’t previously been able to stream the games on the same platform for these shared watch parties. But the possibility of offering alternatives to the main RedZone could provide some added appeal – at least until Disney can just find another way to enshittify it.