Season 18 kicks off

RedZone returns Sunday at 1 p.m. ET for seven hours of whip-around football. The talk heading in is not the games, it's the ads.

Ads, but only 15 seconds

Host Scott Hanson confirmed the plan: single 15-second spots, spliced in only between plays. Think a Cowboys drive, first-and-10 after a 5-yard gain, players walking back to the huddle.

“That's when we will splice in one standalone, 15-second commercial. I can confirm that for you.”

Last year set the precedent

RedZone ran 16 advertisements of some kind at one point last season, a big jump for a show built on seven commercial-free hours.

Fewer ads, for now

Hanson says the season opens with fewer spots than fans fear. What happens later is out of his hands.

“Uncle Scott doesn't make the decisions when it comes to the business folks at the NFL.”

On in the White House

Hanson has been told the show played in the White House under the last two administrations, which puts it on both sides of the aisle.

“I've been told we've been on in the White House in the last two administrations, so both sides of the aisle.”

Players watch it too

Tom Brady kept RedZone on during bye weeks and prime-time nights. Josh Allen does the same on his off days.

“So it's just, it's, it's a phenomenon.”

Lions scare him, not sharks

Hanson has hit six continents, run with the bulls, climbed Kilimanjaro and cage-dived with great whites. The sharks came with bars; the Serengeti lions did not.

“Kilimanjaro was more beautiful. Running with the bulls required more courage.”