ESPN Executive Won't Shut the Door on Working With Fox on College Football 'RedZone'

Could the much-loved program come to college football in the future?

ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro spoke to the possibility of a program similar to 'NFL RedZone' for college football / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

If you're holding out hope for a college football program similar to NFL RedZone, the path to making that a reality appears to be there ... eventually.

A new business partnership between ESPN and the NFL gives the NFL RedZone name and brand to the worldwide leader, although the deal has yet to close. Once it becomes official, ESPN could utilize the RedZone name for other sports including the potential for an equivalent on college football Saturdays, a possibility that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell hinted at last month. Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN's president, was recently asked about the possibility. Although the dream becoming a reality seems a long way away with many potential hurdles, his response is certainly encouraging.

"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," Pitaro said, via Front Office Sports. "College football is something that we've started to look at. It's a bit more complicated for the obvious reasons than on the professional football side, but it's definitely something that we're considering as well as other sports."

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

One of the many complications of bringing a RedZone equivalent to college football is Fox owning the exclusive media rights for the Big Ten. The ESPN president was asked whether the ideal outcome for a college football product would be specific to media rights that ESPN owns or if they could work with other companies like Fox and CBS to run the full gamut.

“We would love to have those conversations,” Pitaro told Front Office Sports, via Awful Announcing. “If [Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks] is interested, if the folks at NBC are interested, if the folks at CBS are interested, we would love to have those conversations.”

A potential RedZone for college football would certainly do numbers, especially if ESPN is able to get the other powers at be to join in. Even if the possibility is a long ways away, football fans can't help but hold out hope.

---

More College Football on Sports Illustrated

feed