At first blush, the possibility of using more than 16,000 square feet in video-board space for non-stop RedZone coverage at EverBank Field made a lot of sense. As the NFL tries to make the in-stadium experience better than staying at home, the league needs to at least make it as good.
But there’s a potential problem. If fans are watching what’s going on elsewhere, they inevitably will react to what’s going on elsewhere. And that will make for sounds that don’t mesh with what’s happening on the field.
It will get particularly odd late in the season, if the Jaguars are in the hunt for a playoff berth and RedZone cuts to a game involving a team with which the Jags are jockeying for postseason positioning. As all eyes go to the video board and away from the field, fans will respond to what they see on the screen, and not what’s happening in front of them.
Of course, that problem can easily be solved by turning off the RedZone coverage in those moments. But if that happens, then it won’t truly by non-stop RedZone coverage.
Maybe, then, extensive but not continuous use of RedZone is the best way to go. There will be moments when it makes no sense to distract fans from what’s happening on the field.
Of course, in some cities it will never make sense to distract the fans from what’s happening on the field. Coincidentally, in those cities the stadium would fill up for every game even if the video boards showed a test pattern.