Roger Goodell and the NFL made headlines earlier this week with a massive contract where the NFL sold NFL Network, along with other media assets, including NFL RedZone, to ESPN. Now, after this quote by Roger Goodell, ACC fans may be much closer to paradise than they think.
Appearing on SportsCenter on Wednesday, Goodell discussed the deal and the excitement it will bring to fans. However, the NFL commissioner also brought up how RedZone could be brought to other sports, such as college football.
""ESPN purchased the RedZone name, and they will be able to utilize that for other sports, college football and other things, and I think that could be an exciting thing for our fans also to see a RedZone, maybe in college football or other sports. That’s something that they now own and have the ability to do that.""Roger Goodell
“When we see the innovation that ESPN has & how we’ve grown together over the years, this is really exciting for our fans.”
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) August 6, 2025
Wednesday, @NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell joined @SportsCenter to talk about the league’s 4 new agreements w/ESPN
Full interview: https://t.co/arkWcEkeKF pic.twitter.com/9aqzTTbMXL
Imagine sitting down on a Saturday at noon, able to check in on Death Valley, Tallahassee, and Durham all at once.
Now, what makes this idea a true possibility for ACC fans specifically is that the Atlantic Coast Conference has a full media rights deal with ESPN that will continue for at least the next decade. Earlier this year, ESPN picked up its option with the ACC to continue broadcasting the conference's sporting events through 2036.
Other power conferences, such as the Big 10, don't have this luxury. So, in theory, it would be much more difficult to get NBC or CBS to allow an ESPN RedZone scheme to show their games.
What ACC fans should really hope for is a RedZone for college basketball. The conference is a great football product, but it's also a basketball powerhouse. Just imagine tuning into ESPN College Basketball RedZone on a Saturday night, and getting to watch Duke vs. UNC, Louisville vs. Virginia, and NC State vs. Syracuse all at once.
But on a Saturday afternoon during football season, the ACC faithful can catch Miami vs. Florida State, Clemson vs. Georgia Tech, and Boston College vs. Virginia Tech at the same time.
If Goodell keeps his word on turning RedZone into a reality for other sports, this could mean true paradise for ACC fans during both football and basketball seasons.