The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the NFL to find out if the league has “engaged in anticompetitive tactics” regarding its game broadcasts, per Jessica Toonkel and Dana Mattioli of the Wall Street Journal. While the report acknowledges the character and scope of the investigation is presently unknown, it references the Sports Broadcast Act of 1961 and the incontrovertible fact that viewers must pay subscription fees to look at certain games.
The Act gives the NFL an antitrust exemption with respect to its negotiation of television rights, and courts have ruled the Act applies only to broadcast television. Cable, satellite, and streaming services are usually not covered.
Nonetheless, in early March, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote a letter to the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission by which he urged those agencies to review whether the NFL’s practices comply with the Act (via ESPN News Services). In his letter, Lee alleged football fans spend nearly $1,000 per yr on cable and streaming services, and Forbes estimated that it will have cost $765 for a fan to look at every NFL game last season.
It’s true that subscriptions are required to look at Monday Night Football games on ESPN that are usually not simulcast on ABC, Thursday Night Football games and the Black Friday contest on Prime Video, and Christmas games on Netflix. Some international games air on the NFL Network, which is now owned by ESPN, and the league has given certain games to Peacock and ESPN+ up to now. Select playoff games have also required subscriptions.
Still, all games air free of charge in the published markets of the 2 participating clubs, and the NFL has issued a press release emphasizing that time. The statement reads:
The NFL’s media distribution model is probably the most fan and broadcaster-friendly in the whole sports and entertainment industry. With over 87% of our games on free, broadcast television, including 100% of games within the markets of the competing teams, the NFL has for a long time 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.
Since non-broadcast platforms are exempt from the Act, one would think the NFL could be within the clear here. Nonetheless, because the ESPN article observes, a jury in a 2024 federal class-action case in Los Angeles awarded $4.7 billion in damages after finding the league violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on the “Sunday Ticket” subscription service. Federal antitrust laws allow for treble damages, so the NFL’s liability could have exceeded $14 billion if the judge had not overturned the jury’s verdict on the grounds that two of the plaintiffs’ witnesses used “flawed methodologies.”
The league’s deals with most of its broadcast partners run through 2033 (2034 for ESPN), however the league has an opt-out after the 2029 season (2030 for ESPN). The ESPN report says the NFL is more likely to exercise its opt-out to capitalize on its immense popularity and land much more favorable terms. In spite of everything, Nielsen’s data shows that 83 of the highest 100 broadcasts in 2025 were NFL games.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk posits that the whole effort could possibly be a “political power play.” Shortly before the news of the DOJ’s investigation broke, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial questioning whether the NFL still deserves an antitrust exemption. The WSJ is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox.
In discussing the NFL’s presumptive exercise of its opt-out and subsequent renegotiations, Florio reports CBS is anticipated to conform to pay considerably greater than its current $2.1 billion-per-year rate to avoid the opt-out and lock in a price for the 2030-33 seasons. Once that agreement is within the books, the NFL could then turn its attention to Fox. Sooner or later, though, it’s fair to wonder if networks will refuse to go any higher and risk losing their NFL deals.
In any event, it will behoove all parties to take care of the establishment. Without the antitrust exemption, television rights could be sold by each of the league’s 32 teams. In such a scenario, the large-market teams would thrive, the small-market teams wouldn’t, and the NFL’s salary cap system – which is maybe one among the foremost reasons for the league’s success – may disintegrate.