NFL RedZone To Distract Spectators From Their Own Boring Games

Tired of going to the stadium and being forced to watch your own team? (I'm looking at you, NFC West fans.) Well, no more. RedZone, the greatest invention since football itself, is coming to a JumboTron near you.

Seeing football live is a wonderful, unique experience. It's just that the TV timeouts seem a lot longer, more frequent, and more boring when you don't actually get commercials to watch, or can flip to the other game. The league has tried to keep fans entertained, but the last thing we want to see is 30-year-old highlights.

Until now, NFL Films packages were the only thing teams were allowed to play in their stadium. Starting this season, they'll offer a feed of the NFL RedZone Channel, which goes live to every game where a score is imminent. It'll be on the JumboTrons and TVs around the stadium, and it'll be up to the discretion of each team when to play it — between quarters, during TV timeouts, or all the fucking time. This is spectacular news.

Remember how only 11 minutes of play actually happens in any given game? You know how I spend my other 2:30 at the stadium? Freezing my ass off, and refreshing the shitty little scores app on my phone, desperately looking to see how my fantasy team is doing. When you see they're in the red zone, it's absolute torture, because you know it's not going to update until someone scores.

Well, now, if teams know what's good for them, I'll be able to look up at the big screen anytime and watch that other game, which is inevitably more exciting than my own. Please, NFL teams, the league has given you a very special gift to share with others. Don't be stingy.

NFL stadiums driving into RedZone [SportsBusiness Journal]