WASHINGTON—In the runup to hearings on June 10 that will examine the antitrust exemptions currently enjoyed by the NFL and other major professional sports, the House Judiciary Committee has released an interim staff report titled "The Sports Broadcasting Act: A Special-Interest Antitrust Exemption Gone Awry" that blasted the NFL's current strategy for selling media rights.
It report argues that the NFL has stretched an antitrust exemption created by the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 (SBA) beyond its original purpose to the detriment of American consumers by a series of deals with streaming companies that have enriched the league and harmed consumers.
“The results shown in the data suggest that the NFL's current model of placing games behind a paywall, especially through its Sunday Ticket offering, is harming consumers by forcing them to pay for a large package of NFL games when many consumers only want to see their favorite team's games,” the Committee found. “The existence of the data also suggests that the NFL has misstated the nature of its Sunday Ticket product.”
The report comes at a time when the NFL is under increasing political and regulatory pressure from legislators and regulators. President Trump, members of Congress and the Federal Communications Commission, which has opened a probe into the current market for sports rights, have all complained that the shift of major sports rights from free broadcast to streaming platforms have made it increasingly costly and difficult for fans to follow their favorite teams.
In August 2025, the House Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust opened an investigation into the broadcasting practices of the professional sports leagues, which are governed by the SBA. The SBA provides the leagues with an anti-trust exemption so that it can negotiate rights deals on behalf of all its teams.
As part of this oversight, the Committee says it is examining whether anticompetitive broadcasting conduct by the NFL has harmed American football consumers and undermined the letter and spirit of the antitrust laws and the SBA.
The NFL has countered by saying that 100 percent of its "local market games" are available free, over-the-air; 87 percent of games have "primary distribution" on broadcast television. In meetings with the FCC, its executives have argued that it offers "the most fan- and broadcaster-friendly [model] in the entire sports and entertainment industry."
“The NFL's claim of a fan-friendly distribution model defies the reality experienced by millions of NFL fans,” the Committee found. “The NFL's own data show that the average NFL game reaches only 39 percent of U.S. households. In 2016, broadcasters aired 113 of the NFL's 256 regular-season games in fewer than 20 percent of U.S. households. When the NFL claims that 87 percent of games receive "primary distribution" on broadcast television, it means only that a broadcast station carries those games somewhere in the country – not that most fans can watch them.”
Additionally, survey data obtained by the Committee suggests that the NFL's Sunday Ticket offering is not the consumer-friendly option that the NFL presents it to be. The report argues that:
- Despite the NFL's claims, Sunday Ticket is not just a product for the avid fan of NFL football in general, but a product bought mainly by fans attempting to watch their favorite team who are stuck with no other option.
- According to data from former Sunday Ticket subscribers, when asked, "Why did you sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket?," over 70 percent of respondents answered that they subscribed to "watch my favorite team, which is out of market[.]"
- When asked why they canceled their Sunday Ticket subscription, 70 percent of respondents answered that Sunday Ticket is too expensive.
The Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust will convene a hearing about the SBA on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, at 10:00 a.m.
Read the full report here.
Read the full appendix here.
