ESPN launches RedZone at the US Open, extending brand beyond football for first time
ESPN announced RedZone at the US Open, marking the first time the RedZone brand, acquired as part of its NFL equity deal, will cover a sport other than football. The whip-around feed will air from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET from August 30 through September 4 on ESPN Unlimited.
ESPN announced RedZone at the US Open, marking the first time the RedZone brand, acquired as part of its NFL equity deal, will cover a sport other than football. The whip-around feed will debut August 30 and run through September 4, airing from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET each day exclusively on ESPN Unlimited, according to Awful Announcing. The feed will deliver live action from all 16 courts during the early rounds of the tournament. ESPN secured the RedZone intellectual property rights as part of its broader equity agreement with the NFL, and the tennis deployment represents the first expansion of the brand beyond football coverage. TNT Sports has been running a similar whip-around format for French Open coverage over the past two years, per Awful Announcing's reporting. ESPN has not announced which on-air talent will host RedZone coverage throughout the tournament. The 2026 US Open marks a shift in ESPN's streaming strategy. All US Open matches are available only to ESPN Unlimited subscribers this year, the network's most expensive direct-to-consumer tier. Previously, all matches had been available on ESPN Select (formerly ESPN+), the more affordable option. ESPN made the same move for Australian Open and Wimbledon coverage in prior years. Day 1 of the tournament will also be available to all Disney+ subscribers.
RedZone at the US Open debuts August 30, the first non-football use of the brand ESPN secured through its NFL equity agreement.
RedZone at the US Open will test whether a whip-around format built for football's rhythm works in tennis, while the shift of all matches to ESPN Unlimited marks a further paywall escalation from prior years. The streaming-only setup will make traditional viewership measurement difficult, leaving the success or failure of the experiment harder to quantify against historical baselines.
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