It’s official: ESPN is acquiring the NFL Network, which, most importantly, to me, means, it’s getting the RedZone channel – please, please, for the love of god, please, don’t replace Scott Hanson with Stephen A. Smith or Pat McAfee.
“For those wondering: yes, I will still be hosting RedZone,” Hanson posted on the interwebs as the news leaked out on Wednesday.
So, phew!
Actually, still worried that ESPN is going to try to shove one or both of the Stephen A./McAfee idiot combo onto RedZone sooner rather than later.
The deal gives the NFL a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN, which ought to be fun, just in terms of the journalistic integrity of having ESPN covering a business that has a 10 percent ownership stake in it.
Though, I mean, really, as if ESPN has done any serious journalism in forever, right?
(No, Adam Schefter telling us about a trade two minutes before the press release goes out doesn’t count as serious journalism.)
NFL Network will continue on, for some reason – actually, for a good reason: 168 additional hours a week for the ESPN salespeople to sell ads to the likes of BlueChew and Endurance.
The big news here: Scott Hanson is still our guy for seven hours of commercial-free football on Sundays 18 times a year.
One other plea to the dolts at ESPN: keep RedZone commercial-free, or we riot.
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Chris Graham
