Pat McAfee Explains NFL Redzone Commercial Comments: “What I Meant Was We’re Still Gonna Watch”
Pat McAfee isn’t backing down from his ridiculous “people aren’t upset about commercials in NFL Redzone” comments. Well sorta… To put things simply, the NFL Redzone is one of the greatest inventions in the history of the world. Since 2009, Scott Hanson has been at the helm of the channel that offers bounce-around coverage to all of the most exciting parts – and scoring plays – in the NFL. There’s nothing better than plopping down on your couch, turning on […] The post Pat McAfee Explains NFL Redzone Commercial Comments: “What I Meant Was We’re Still Gonna Watch” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.


Pat McAfee isn’t backing down from his ridiculous “people aren’t upset about commercials in NFL Redzone” comments. Well sorta…
To put things simply, the NFL Redzone is one of the greatest inventions in the history of the world. Since 2009, Scott Hanson has been at the helm of the channel that offers bounce-around coverage to all of the most exciting parts – and scoring plays – in the NFL. There’s nothing better than plopping down on your couch, turning on NFL Redzone, and taking in all of the action… literally all of it.
But football fans started to get concerned when they found out that ESPN had acquired the NFL Network – which produces NFL Redzone – in a deal that gave the National Football League a 10% ownership stake in the sports network. Nothing problematic about that… but let’s get to the juicier part of the story, shall we?
NFL Redzone floated the idea of commercials being plugged into the former commercial-less program late last season, and even started testing out the inclusion of ads in the last couple of weeks of Redzone. And during a recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, RedZone host Scott Hanson hinted that there might be commercials on the network this season – and promised fans that he had no say in the matter:
“When it comes to what’s on RedZone, there is no one on the planet who wants to show you more football than I do. I guarantee it. And I hope people can understand that. So everyone who dives in my mentions to be like, ‘Why are you putting commercials on RedZone?’ That’s not my pay grade.
There are people who can answer that question, and they’re not sitting in this chair right now. I host, they do the business. But I’ll tell you this, no matter what hand I’m dealt or we’re dealt, I’m going to give you the best experience that I possibly can.”
That was the first sign of things to come.
The unfortunate news of advertisements coming to NFL Redzone was confirmed today when Hanson appeared on The Pat McAfee Show. Hanson made sure to once again emphasize that he had nothing to do with the decision:
“The business folks handle the business, and I have no say over different elements that could or could not be in the show.”
What a tragedy.
Though that confirmation stole plenty of headlines, the quote that really got people going was from ESPN’s Pat McAfee. He absurdly tried to conclude that most football fans wouldn’t be upset about the commercials. Umm… Pat, you do know that the slogan of the channel used to be “seven hours of commercial free football,” right?
“I don’t think anybody’s upset about the commercials. I mean, it’s an easy thing to kind of tweet about and post about, but I don’t think anybody’s turning it off because of commercials and the NFL knows that.”