From RedZone and YouTube to international play and a Taylor Swift Super Bowl halftime show, here are eight big NFL business issues this season.
The most popular TV program in the country, the National Football League, kicks off this weekend with an estimated $30 billion in legal wagering expected to be bet this season as the league gets closer than ever to reaching its goal of driving $25 billion per year in revenue.
The business of the NFL is showing no signs of slowing down, but we here at Boardroom have identified eight big business storylines and issues to watch out for as the season begins, starting with one that just popped up this week.
Will NFL fans revolt against RedZone’s commercial decision?
Since its launch in 2009, the NFL RedZone channel has revolutionized the way fans watch football, for better or worse. For fantasy players and bettors, distilling every game down to just the potential scoring plays has changed viewing habits, making them more addicted to the action than ever before. But Scott Hanson, the beloved and celebrated host since the beginning, told Pat McAfee on Wednesday that the show would air commercials for the entire season for the first time.
Fans were livid.
While it was merely a coincidence that this was coming weeks after ESPN agreed to purchase RedZone as part of its NFL deal, it didn’t stop fans from blaming the network. What we know about the RedZone commercials is that there will be a limited number of ads, reportedly four 15-second spots, during the seven hours of the show, but they won’t be full screen, with game video seen at the same time as commercial audio, like the show experimented with last year.
How much the fans will revolt and complain that Hanson’s patented proclamation of “seven hours of commercial-free football” no longer applies will be an interesting storyline as the NFL returns.
YouTube joins the party.
YouTube buying the rights for NFL Sunday Ticket was one thing, but Friday marks the ubiquitous streamer’s first exclusive broadcast of a regular-season game, a one-off special featuring the Kansas City Chiefs playing the Los Angeles Chargers from Brazil. YouTube joins Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video as non-traditional broadcasters paying the NFL for programming, providing the league with even more competition as it gears up for the new rights contract at the end of the decade.
The NFL’s deal with ESPN frees up even more games that were once exclusive to NFL Network, and YouTube is just another bidder to drive up the price. Will the league decide to put its international games up for sale as a package next year? If so, YouTube and Netflix could be pitted against each other in a dream scenario for the NFL.
Will the NFL wage war against prediction markets?
The NFL’s betting rules prohibit employees from using prediction markets like Kalshi, Robinhood, and Polymarket because they mimic sports betting a little too much. Like the fight over daily fantasy sports a decade ago, regulators in states across the country are suing or weighing lawsuits alleging that they’re not different enough from FanDuel or DraftKings. Barring an unforeseen change, fans in all 50 states are going to wager on who wins NFL games this season. Will the league push back against this and exert the weight and influence of its power in a major fight, or will it let it be and allow the interest and money to flow?
Will the NFL succeed in new European locales?
The league will play games in Dublin, Berlin, and Madrid for the first time this season, further expanding the NFL experiment trying new European cities. If there’s enough fan interest, we could see games in Australia and Mexico next season in addition to continuing its Eurotrip. But within the NFL’s international travels, I’m locked in on the Minnesota Vikings being the first team in league history to play consecutive road games in different European cities. They’ll play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 28 in Dublin, and the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 5 in London. If the NFL deems this successful, expect more teams to play multi-week international road trips in the future as the league further prioritizes international play.
Will ESPN’s NFL coverage change after sale agreement?
Although the agreement between ESPN and the NFL won’t become official until late in 2026, the league is set to own not just 10% of ESPN but also a percentage of CBS as part of its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance. Now, in addition to NFL Network, the league will own a piece of two major primary platforms that cover the NFL. Will that, even subconsciously, change the way these outlets report on the league? Are there going to be stories they don’t pursue? It’s something I’ll be watching over the course of the season.
Will Thanksgiving mark the most-watched regular-season game ever?
The Dallas Cowboys–New York Giants Thanksgiving game from 2022 drew 42.1 million viewers to Fox, breaking the record for the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history. This year, the league scheduled the Chiefs against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day on CBS with its sights set on setting this new record. You have the traditional America’s Team against the modern America’s Team, with the Swifties battling the Boys in that late afternoon window, as Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce aim to capture the league’s 44-45 million viewers. I think they get it.
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What’s the NFL doing to prevent its own gambling scandal?
We’ve seen Malik Beasley’s gambling investigation take over headlines during the NBA offseason, and Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clasé and Luis Ortiz are currently on administrative leave as they’re also under investigation for alleged betting-related wrongdoing. The NFL reportedly has an integrity representative assigned to each team on site to monitor suspicious activity, and a player hasn’t been suspended for gambling-related offenses since 2023. Can the league keep those huge threats at bay, or will we see something pop up this season that turns the football news cycle on its head?
Will the NFL convince Taylor Swift to perform at the Super Bowl?
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell certainly played the part this week when interviewed on the Today Show, not ruling out the possibility of a certain recently engaged pop star performing at the Super Bowl in Santa Clara in February.
“We would always love to have Taylor play,” Goodell told host Savannah Guthrie, “she would be welcome at any time.”
Taylor Swift is one of very few artists on earth who doesn’t need the NFL as much as the NFL needs her. The league doesn’t pay its Super Bowl halftime performers, and Swift definitely doesn’t need the exposure. There’s also a chance she overshadows the game itself. You could envision her fans spending untold sums of money paying for Super Bowl tickets and not caring about the actual play on the field itself.
Conversely, it would likely clinch the title of the most-watched TV show in American history. Goodell clearly isn’t overthinking this; he’d love to have Swift perform if she wants. The NFL is a lot like Kelce in this sense: They’re both asking Swift to “baby, just say yes.”
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