DOJ is investigating NFL over streaming deals as antitrust exemption draws scrutiny
The Justice Department is investigating exclusive NFL broadcasts amid fan frustration over fragmented and paid access. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is questioning whether the league should keep its special antitrust exemption, first established by the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley suggests that Congress examine the structure of the NFL, highlighting their annual revenue of $25 billion and the rising costs of fans.
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A scathing report released Monday by the House Judiciary Committee and its chairman, Jim Jordan, took the NFL to task, arguing that America’s most popular sports league had flouted the narrow lines of the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act and its antitrust exemptions while on its way to becoming a profitable sports empire.
All while reducing consumer choice and increasing prices to watch sports.
The report, obtained by Fox News, includes a central argument on pages 8-9 that Congress created the Sports Broadcasting Act (SBA) to keep sports widely available on free television and help the struggling league survive.
But what has happened since 1961, lawmakers argue, is that the antitrust exemption created to elevate the NFL has instead created one of the most powerful sports media businesses in the world that expands the narrow limits of the exemption.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a senior member, attended the hearing in Washington, DC, on Jan. 22, 2026. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg)
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You know the report wasn’t going to be NFL friendly just by reading the headline.
Sports Broadcasting Law: Special antitrust exemptions go awry.
The report, at its heart, is illegal in 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 laws and awarded more than $4.796 billion to plaintiffs. That decision was later overturned by a judge, unfairly, according to the report.
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The report also cites internal data that suggests the majority of Sunday Ticket subscribers “are not die-hard fans looking for every game,” but rather fans trying to watch an out-of-market team.
Streaming service EverPass Media has announced that it will be the exclusive commercial provider of the NFL Sunday Ticket beginning in the 2026 season. (Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)
Page 18 of the report concerns the NFL about its decisions with The Sunday Ticket package. It explains that:
- ESPN has reportedly proposed a Sunday ticket package that costs about $70 a season.
- According to sources cited in the report, the NFL disputes the lower price point.
- The NFL also opposed a team-by-team purchase option that would have allowed fans to buy only their favorite team’s games.
- The report says these choices have limited consumer choice and kept fans locked into the most expensive bundles.
The Committee and Subcommittee have been examining the NFL’s conduct regarding its agreements with broadcast, cable, and streaming channels and evaluating how they fit within the narrow antitrust freedoms provided by the SBA.
And the findings?
The NFL’s description of the Sunday Ticket package is misleading in that its primary use is to serve die-hard fans.
“Through its oversight, the Committee and Subcommittee found information showing that despite the NFL’s claims, the Sunday Ticket is not a product of the NFL fan in general; rather, it is a product that is primarily purchased by fans who are trying to watch their favorite team because they have no other option,” the report reads.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell welcomes fans to the 2025 NFL Draft before the first round on April 24, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. (Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
Recent litigation and oversight by the Committee and Subcommittee show that the entire structure of the NFL’s television rights and the revenue from it is a “house of cards built on an excessive antitrust exemption.”
The report also takes apart the league’s contention that 87 percent of its games are available on (free-to-air) television. “In fact, it’s less than half of the games actually available to the consumer on broadcast television, depending on the week and location,” the report read. “However, the NFL says the Sunday Ticket – and its $480 price tag – is a friendly product designed for the active fan.”
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The committee suggests that the NFL may face continued legal scrutiny, antitrust challenges, and pressure to change its media model. It suggests that the NFL change its model before the courts or Congress force it to do so.
The NFL, of course, has repeatedly disputed such narratives. And it’s understandable because its business model is at risk.
If Congress or a court somehow strikes down or continues to limit the current antitrust exemption the league enjoys, it will not be able to sell its product — NFL games — to broadcast and broadcast partners as a single entity.
The league is able to do that right now and that led to a deal worth nearly $110 billion in its latest round of contracts.
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Changing the current system would force the NFL to allow individual teams to sell their TV rights. The league’s revenue-sharing model would collapse, and the league’s acceptance of competitive parity could be upsetting, because some teams would get bigger television deals than others, thus becoming more powerful.
This is no small problem for the NFL. It is, as one league source recently told Fox News, “almost everything.”
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