Last week, news of a potential NFL-ESPN business partnership took centerstage with a transformative agreement inching ever closer. According to CNBC’s Alex Sherman, the NFL would hold up to a 10% equity stake in ESPN, while ESPN would acquire NFL Network and NFL RedZone.

And the biggest takeaway amongst sports fans from the massive deal could be boiled down into one word.

Panic.

It wasn’t worries about potential conflicts of interest between the biggest sports league and biggest sports network in existence, nor about what it might mean for the future of cable and streaming, or future NFL rights deals. No, it was that somehow, some way, ESPN might ruin the best and most pure thing in sports broadcasting — NFL RedZone.

ESPN will turn Redzone into The Pat McAfee Show watches Redzone https://t.co/X0WzxQU8IB pic.twitter.com/m1d16b4CMm

— Josh (@jetsfan24x7) July 23, 2025

Please don’t touch red zone. Just let Scott be Scott. No guest appearances, no Pat McAfee or Stephen A drop ins. Just leave it alone https://t.co/SFAOwaw5GV

— Mitch (@mitchcoffman) July 23, 2025

“Seven hours of commercial free football”, says Pat McAfee as I hurl myself into a volcano https://t.co/vT7NNMtBp8

— Blinkin (@blinkinriley) July 23, 2025

For the love of god please keep Stephen A and Mike Greenberg away from the Red Zone channel https://t.co/63Jehj94x6

— Jake Mendel (@JMendel94) July 23, 2025

Watching Redzone after ESPN gets its hands on it https://t.co/5MZzzbAnMZ pic.twitter.com/1Vpeb7a71z

— I Loathe Doc Rivers (@RK_itsm) July 23, 2025

ESPN once again will ruin something I love https://t.co/U3iyqQqTPm

— Austin Peacock 🦚 (@austinbpeacock) July 23, 2025

The Red Zone channel, but it’s just a never-ending loop of the Cowboys game… https://t.co/dvzx2dHBxm

— Sam Twetan (@TheRealTweeters) July 24, 2025

To put it bluntly, fans clearly do not trust ESPN with NFL RedZone. But is the concern valid or is it an overreaction?

If there is one thing that should give sports fans solace, it’s that ESPN, in its new era, has shown a willingness to be hands-off when it comes to acquiring new properties. While fans might be worried about Pat McAfee showing up on Sundays in addition to his daily show, College GameDay, and various altcasts, he is actually proof that ESPN can leave well enough alone.

In their unique licensing arrangement, ESPN has pretty much left The Pat McAfee Show as is straight from YouTube, albeit with a censor for F-bombs that works roughly 85% of the time. Even throughout the program’s many controversies since joining the network, ESPN has taken a laissez faire approach with McAfee. There is no clearer sign of that than how it handled the Mary Kate Cornett controversy. You may remember that while Barstool Sports and Dave Portnoy were front and center in offering an apology on national network television, McAfee and ESPN chose the silent route. It wasn’t until last week, months after the initial incident, that McAfee finally publicly apologized.

ESPN has made a similar pledge in its licensing deal with Inside the NBA. In spite of concerns that Stephen A. Smith or Kendrick Perkins might find a way to force themselves onto the set, every signal out of Bristol is that the show will air in its current form once it joins the Worldwide Leader in Sports next year. Of course, ESPN will have to be held accountable for that before the skeptics are finally convinced. But so far every signal out of ESPN is that it doesn’t want to lay a finger to the successful formula at Inside the NBA.

If ESPN is willing to bring those hugely successful shows onto its airwaves without changing them or putting its own personal stamp on them, why would they do something different with NFL RedZone? The Sunday afternoons hosted by Scott Hanson is the pinnacle of sports programming for NFL fans. (At least as long as they keep the commercials away.)

If ESPN were to do something crazy like drop in a debate segment at halftime with Mike Greenberg or have Pat McAfee on the telecast, or Stephen A. Smith calling out players every time there’s a dropped pass, there would be riots in the streets of Bristol, Connecticut. And rightfully so! But why would ESPN want to mess with something that so very clearly works?

What ESPN has shown in recent years is that it is willing to let its star properties go with more freedom than ever before. And NFL RedZone should be no different.

But maybe the bigger story here is the broken down relationship between ESPN and a significant chunk of sports fans. Fans still need ESPN. The network is still far too big and far too valuable for fans to live without. And ESPN is counting on that with the launch of its DTC platform to help keep the business thriving amidst the decline of cable and the rise of streaming.

But there is a growing wave of dissatisfaction that ESPN is giving too much leeway and too much airtime to its biggest stars. Even former ESPNers are voicing it themselves. Perception is reality in the media world. And if there’s a perception that ESPN is going to plug the square peg of Stephen A. Smith or Pat McAfee in the round hole of NFL RedZone then that’s something the network has to deal with. And given how ubiquitous they are in the sports and media world both inside and outside ESPN, maybe fans are justified in feeling that way.

ESPN has some work to do to rebuild its relationship with sports fans. And if it can acquire NFL RedZone and Inside the NBA and leave them be, it could at least be a major positive step in that direction.