DOJ investigates NFL streaming deals as antitrust exemption draws scrutiny
The Justice Department is investigating the NFL’s exclusive streaming deals amid fan frustration over fragmented, paid access. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr questions whether the league should retain its special antitrust exemption, originally established by the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act. PK Press Club contributor Jonathan Turley suggests Congress examine the NFL’s monopolistic structure, pointing to its $25 billion annual revenue and rising fan costs.
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A scathing report released Monday by the House Judiciary Committee and its Chairman Jim Jordan takes the NFL to task, saying America’s most popular sports league ignored the narrow guardrails of the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act and its antitrust exemption on its way to becoming a lucrative sports empire.
All this while limiting consumer choices and inflating game viewing prices.
The report, obtained by PK Press Club, includes the central argument on pages 8 and 9 that Congress created the Sports Broadcasting Act (SBA) to keep games widely available on free television and help a struggling league survive.
But what has happened since 1961, lawmakers say, is that the antitrust exemption created to lift the NFL has instead created one of the most powerful sports media companies in the world, which has pushed the narrow limits of the exemption.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member, attend a hearing in Washington, D.C., Jan. 22, 2026. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg)
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You know the report wasn’t going to be favorable to the NFL just by reading the headline.
The Sports Broadcasting Act: A Special Interest Antitrust Exemption Gone Wrong.
The report, at its heart, focuses on the league’s Sunday ticket offering. It highlights evidence from the ongoing Sunday Ticket antitrust case, including a 2024 jury verdict that found the NFL violated antitrust law and awarded more than $4.796 billion in damages to the plaintiffs. That verdict was later overturned by a judge, wrongly, according to the report.
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The report also cites internal data suggesting that most Sunday Ticket subscribers are not “passionate fans who want every game” but rather fans trying to watch an out-of-market team. »
Streaming service EverPass Media has announced that it will become the exclusive commercial provider of NFL Sunday Ticket beginning with the 2026 season. (Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)
Page 18 of the report is particularly troubling for the NFL regarding its decisions regarding The Sunday Ticket package. He emphasizes that:
- ESPN reportedly offered a Sunday Ticket package priced around $70 per season.
- According to documents cited in the report, the NFL opposed the price cut.
- The NFL also opposed a team-by-team purchasing option that would have allowed fans to purchase only their favorite team’s games.
- The report claims these decisions have limited consumer choice and kept fans locked into a more expensive package.
The Committee and Subcommittee examined the NFL’s conduct regarding its agreements with broadcast, cable, and streaming distribution channels and evaluated how they fit within the SBA’s narrow antitrust exemption.
And the discoveries?
The NFL’s description of its Sunday Ticket package is misleading in asserting that its greatest use is to serve avid fans.
“Through their oversight, the Committee and Subcommittee obtained data showing that despite the NFL’s claims, the Sunday Ticket is largely not a product intended for fans of NFL football in general; rather, it is a product purchased primarily by fans trying to watch their favorite team and who have no other option,” the report states.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell greets fans at the 2025 NFL Draft ahead of the first round, April 24, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
Recent litigation and committee and subcommittee oversight demonstrate that the NFL’s entire television rights structure and resulting revenues are “a house of cards built on an outsized antitrust exemption.”
The report also sets aside the league’s claim that 87 percent of its games are available on television (for free). “In fact, far fewer than half of games are actually available to a consumer on television, depending on the week and geography,” the report states. “Nevertheless, the NFL says Sunday Ticket – and its $480 price tag – is a user-friendly product designed for passionate fans.”
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The committee suggests the NFL could face continued legislative scrutiny, antitrust challenges and pressure to change its media model. He suggests the NFL change its model before the courts or Congress force it to do so.
The NFL, of course, has repeatedly pushed back against such narratives. And this is understandable, because its economic model is in danger.
If Congress or a court were to strike down or further limit the current antitrust exemption the league enjoys, it would not be able to sell its product — NFL games — to broadcast and streaming partners as a single entity.
The league is currently in a position to do this, resulting in a deal worth around $110 billion in its last round of contracts.
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Changing the current approach would require the NFL to allow individual teams to sell their own television rights. The league’s revenue sharing model would collapse and the league’s adherence to competitive parity would likely be upended as some teams would get larger television contracts than others, thereby becoming more powerful.
This is no small problem for the NFL. That is, as a league source recently told PK Press Club, “virtually everything.”
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