DOJ launches probe into NFL for anticompetitive practices
DOJ launches probe into NFL for anticompetitive practices
The Justice Deparment is looking into whether the league is harming fans in how it negotiates TV deals.
It appears that the Ellison and Murdoch families are wielding quite a bit of influence behind the scenes in Washington. They control CBS and Fox, respectively — key NFL broadcast partners — and it’s not much of a stretch to suppose that these conservative families are behind a government push to look into the way the NFL makes its broadcasting deals. The Department of Justice has now launched an official investigation into the NFL over what may be unlawfully anticompetitive practices amid complaints that watching football has become too pricey.
Key Details:
- Taking a look: The DOJ has launched an official investigation into the NFL.
- Decades-old deal: The league has negotiated TV deals as a single entity thanks to an antitrust exemption.
- Read my lips: FCC chair Brendan Carr has been adamant that the league not put too many games behind the streaming paywall.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that the DOJ had opened an investigation into the NFL over whether or not it has engaged in anticompetitive tactics to distribute its games. The full scope of the investigation has not yet been revealed.
Since the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, the NFL has enjoyed an antitrust exemption that allows it to negotiate its TV rights as a single entity, instead of forcing each team to make its own deals. This has given the league a great deal of power in negotiations with programmers, especially as NFL games have become the most popular televised event in the United States.
The league has begun sitting down with current broadcast partners to try to get new deals in place ahead of the 2026 season. The NFL wants to put more games on streaming services, and has an inventory of international games to sell, plus additional game inventory it can scrape back from current partners if they’re willing.
But FCC chairman Brendan Carr has pushed back hard against the idea of having too many games on streaming services, protesting that customers are already having a hard time finding and affording NFL games. In response to the DOJ probe, the NFL issued a statement saying it has one of the most fan-friendly broadcasting arrangements of any American sports league.
“The NFL’s media distribution model is the most fan and broadcaster-friendly in the entire sports and entertainment industry,” the statement said. “With over 87% of our games on free, broadcast television, including 100% of games in the markets of the competing teams, the NFL has for decades put our fans front and center in how we distribute our content. The 2025 season was our most viewed since 1989 and reflects the strength of the NFL distribution model and its wide availability to all fans.”
The FCC is also taking public comments on how the league distributes games. The NFL may want to get ahead of these moves by making a conciliatory gesture or two to current broadcast partners and to fans, because there appears to be significant motivation in government circles to make changes to the league’s antitrust exemption if the league tries to stand its ground.
The NFL has plenty of leverage in its own right, but it should tread carefully in exercising that leverage. The league has sold streaming-exclusive games to ESPN+, Netflix, Prime Video, and other platforms in recent years, but it may have to cool its streaming ambitions for a while if it wants to avoid too much scrutiny from the federal government.
Prime Video
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