ESPN confirms it is exploring RedZone expansion into college football, other sports

by: Alex Byington 50 minutes ago _AlexByington

Jan 8, 2024; Houston, TX, USA; A detail view of an ESPN camera before the 2024 College Football Playoff national championship game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Washington Huskies at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN is in the process of acquiring the NFL Network and its popular RedZone brand in a deal that would give the NFL a 10-percent equity into the sports television network. And while the deal has yet to be finalized, ESPN has already started looking toward how it could expand the “NFL RedZone” platform beyond just the NFL.

During a recent appearance at Front Office Sports ‘ 2025 Tuned In sports media summit in New York City, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro told FOS that the network is exploring new ways to utilize RedZone — which broadcasts scoring plays and most redzone opportunties across all NFL games each week — in other sports, including college football.

“As I mentioned, we are acquiring the RedZone brand, so we would have that opportunity. And look, we’ve started to think about how we could potentially expand it to other leagues but also other sports in general. (And) college football is something that we started to look at,” Pitaro said. “It’s a bit more complicated for obvious reasons than on the professional football side, but it’s definitely something that we’re considering, as well as other sports. … (But) none of this can happen until the ddeal closes, because that acquisition of the RedZone brand was in connection with the 10-percent equity stake that the (NFL) will be taking.”

ESPN is exploring how to expand RedZone into other sports.

“College football is something we’ve started to look at… as well as other sports,” says ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro.

Presented by @oneelevate_ pic.twitter.com/V1ZkZfoYlm

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) September 16, 2025

As Pitaro mentioned, there are still some serious roadblocks to ESPN utilizing a true RedZone format to cover every major college football game week-in and week-out. While the NFL’s television rights deals are quite consolidated, college football’s media rights are not, with each Power conference having their own media rights deal with individual networks.

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