A Thrilling Experience at the MCG
After just one experience inside a full Melbourne Cricket Ground, veteran NFL host Scott Hanson is emphatically confident the city will deliver one of the greatest American football experiences of the season. Melbourne will host the country’s first NFL game on September 11 when the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers clash in a divisional battle. It won’t be the sport’s biggest ever crowd, but it will be on the podium with 100,000 fans expected to pile into the MCG on a Friday morning.
Hanson, the host of the incredibly popular NFL RedZone, was in attendance for Thursday night’s clash between Hawthorn and Collingwood, which drew 76,000 fans to the venue. “The ‘G’ as I learned it’s called was everything that they said it was and more. It was massive and energetic and fun – and very clean by American standards, that was one of the cleanest big stadiums I’ve ever been in,” Hanson told Wide World of Sports.
“To be there and see that stadium for a massive AFL game was a thrill and it allowed me to project what the NFL game is going to be like in September. I think the atmosphere will be off the charts when you get the Australian fans mixing with the American fans that make the trip and mixing with the expats that live in here in Melbourne.”
“Man, 100,000 people, Rams-Niners at the MCG will be one of the greatest atmospheres of the entire NFL season, is my prediction.”
But the game has its sceptics back home in the US, given the sheer logistics in playing on the other side of the world. While shocks jocks, including Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo are of the opinion that the sport won’t be well received in Australia, though his argument is based on attending a Sydney-based university close to 50 years ago.
“My comment to the doubters would be sleep after the game. Don’t worry about the miles, the time change or the season change, it will all melt away when that environment is experienced in Melbourne at the stadium,” Hanson said.
“For game day and really game week, NFL Australia have told me all of the events they have planned for the week leading up to the game and it’s going to have a mini Super Bowl feel to it. I bet it’s going to be an incredible atmosphere during they tell me the busiest time on the sporting calendar here. There’s not going to be a lot of work getting done at people’s jobs and around Melbourne during that time.”
Hanson is a well-travelled man and has no doubt any sporting league would find success in Australia. “I’ve travelled personally to about 40 different countries just in my own life and Australia is number one out of all the countries I’ve visited outside of the United States in terms of sports fandom,” he said.
“It’s right up there with the United States in terms of the highest number of people that are sports fans and love all sports and enjoy them as much as they can be. I think it’s a natural fit for the NFL. I’m surprised that it’s even taken this long and I think it will be a galactic success for the NFL and for Australia and you’ve already heard the boss Roger Goodell say this is not a one and done.”
“The NFL has all the experience to know that Melbourne has the infrastructure to see that this is a place we can make more of a permanent homer for the game of NFL football.”
The Challenge of Hosting NFL RedZone
As far as jobs hosting sports television studio shows go, Hanson unquestionably has one of the hardest in the world. NFL RedZone airs on a Sunday in the US, Monday morning in Australia, and runs for seven straight hours without a commercial break. It covers the entire early and late slates of games across the day, sometimes as many as 13 games.
There could be as many as eight games all starting at the same time, usually around 3am AEST, and another three to five starting when those finish. NFL RedZone covers all of those games live as they happen, flicking between them in real time based on which is in the most exciting situation. The show even has an ‘octobox’ for the possibility of needing to display the action of eight games at once.
It is a fan favourite product, with a cult following in Australia given the early-morning commitment required to watch it. Hanson hosts the show for all seven hours without a break and needs to be across every game as they’re happening.
“I get into a rhythm. It’s hard because you don’t know which of the 12 or 13 games across the day will have the wild moment of the milestone or the biggest story coming out of it, but you know on NFL RedZone that at least a handful of those games are going to have fantastic finishes,” Hanson said.
“So I study all 12 or 13 games as if they’re the only game going on, which requires a lot of time, but I’m used to it by now. I start preparing for RedZone when I get home from RedZone, literally Sunday night. And then every day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday… there are hours spent preparing for RedZone Sunday because obviously I’m talking off the top of my head for seven straight hours.”
Of course, being on live television for seven hours doesn’t exactly give you an opportunity for a bathroom break. And that’s something Hanson takes pride in. “You’ve got to be dedicated, like a football player. You have to prepare your body for the requirements of game time,” Hanson laughed.
“And I dehydrate myself on Sunday mornings. I have very limited liquids. I cut off all liquids and foods about four hours before the show and then with about five minutes to go until showtime I hit the bathroom for the final time to make sure I’m on empty when the show begins, and then I focus on football. It’s all about the willpower of a ninja going forward for seven straight hours.”
Once he’s pushed through a full day without the bathroom, food or drink, Hanson said he often treats himself to a feast on a Sunday night. “Sunday night the diet goes out the window because I don’t eat for basically the whole day. The last bite of food I have is around 6am in the morning and I won’t eat again until like 6pm at night. Sometimes I’ll be so hungry and I’ll want Chinese or Italian or a cheeseburger, so I’ll order two of the three. My calorie intake is epic on Sunday nights and that’s kind of my treat.”
Hanson admits he has a busy few days of heavy Victorian tourism ahead of him before he departs for Los Angeles. “The folks at Visit Victoria have been awesome and have put together an itinerary for me. I’m going to go see the 12 apostles, I’m doing a helicopter tour, I’m going to hit the Melbourne Zoo, walk some alleyways, drink some hot beverages and enjoy the Victorian experience,” Hanson said.
