Scott Hanson reveals ‘NFL RedZone’ witching hour secret formula: ‘It is air traffic control’

The NFL technically opened its 2026 season with the Seattle Seahawks beating the New England Patriots and the San Francisco 49ers humiliating the Los Angeles Rams on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. But true football sickos know that the NFL season does not spiritually start until NFL RedZone monopolizes the first Sunday of the year.

More specifically, the NFL officially reactivates its chokehold on America when RedZone host Scott Hanson guides us through the first " witching hour " of the year. For the uninitiated, the "witching hour" captures the pure chaos of the early-window games finishing simultaneously before giving way to the late window.

Hanson appeared on Pardon My Take on Friday and pulled back the curtain on what he deemed "the best hour in sports TV." He shouted out Mike Francesa — "props if that's where [the phrase] the 'witching hour' came from" — before getting to the good stuff.

"We have a bit of a formula," Hanson said. "We don't do the 'witching hour' by wristwatch time. This is probably the first time I'm saying this in public, so this is good. Do you want to guess as to how we determine when we should say the 'witching hour'?"

Dan "Big Cat" Katz posited that "it's something about however many games have to be in the fourth quarter," which Hanson confirmed is "basically" true. Then, he unloaded the full explanation:

"If we have an eight-game early window, my producer and I — shout out Todd Mossburg, Mossy, great, best in the biz — Mossy and I will be like, alright, we got eight games. Four of them have just hit zeroes at the end of the third quarter, or one's already there. When we get about half of the games, in any given window, into the fourth quarter or at the end-of-the-third-quarter commercial break, we're like, let's start. Let's look. Can we call it the 'witching hour' in the next 90 seconds or so? But what we're trying to do on the backside, because when we do 'witching hour,' I go to the scoreboard. 'Ladies and gentlemen, eight games going on across the National Football League. Five of them are one-possession games. In Detroit. In New England. In Miami. In Atlanta. And in wherever, Kansas City. And it's the 'witching hour'! When wins become losses, and losses become wins.' Boom. We want to cut to one of those games that's a one-possession game in the fourth quarter. So our director, Dustin Stern, has to be looking at the offramp for the 'witching hour.' You would think it's just a simple thing. […] No, it is air traffic control trying to line up all the pieces to the right place."

"If we have an eight-game early window, my producer and I — shout out Todd Mossburg, Mossy, great, best in the biz — Mossy and I will be like, alright, we got eight games. Four of them have just hit zeroes at the end of the third quarter, or one's already there. When we get about half of the games, in any given window, into the fourth quarter or at the end-of-the-third-quarter commercial break, we're like, let's start. Let's look. Can we call it the 'witching hour' in the next 90 seconds or so?

But what we're trying to do on the backside, because when we do 'witching hour,' I go to the scoreboard. 'Ladies and gentlemen, eight games going on across the National Football League. Five of them are one-possession games. In Detroit. In New England. In Miami. In Atlanta. And in wherever, Kansas City. And it's the 'witching hour'! When wins become losses, and losses become wins.' Boom. We want to cut to one of those games that's a one-possession game in the fourth quarter.

So our director, Dustin Stern, has to be looking at the offramp for the 'witching hour.' You would think it's just a simple thing. […] No, it is air traffic control trying to line up all the pieces to the right place."

The "witching hour" formula will surely snap right into midseason form this afternoon, but RedZone did experience some changes this offseason.

In January, the U.S. Department of Justice and other non-U.S. antitrust authorities approved ESPN's acquisition of the NFL Network, NFL Fantasy, and the NFL RedZone distribution rights. But the transaction won't disrupt Hanson or the show, and according to Hanson, fewer ads will congest the viewing experience .