NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked Monday to testify before Congress about his league’s broadcast deals, the latest step in Washington to bring more scrutiny to the skyrocketing costs of watching a game.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, asked Goodell to answer questions about the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 at a hearing scheduled for June 10.
That act currently protects the NFL and other leagues from antitrust action, with teams allowed to pool their media rights together into massive TV packages.
The hearing will examine “the extent to which” the law “has been used by the professional sports leagues to harm consumers and whether potential legislative remedies may be needed to address that harm,” Jordan wrote Goodell.
The Post has sought comment from the NFL and from Jordan’s office.
Recent months have seen increased scrutiny of pro sports leagues – especially the NFL – amid concerns it’s become too pricey and complicated for fans to catch games in the age of streaming.
In April, the Justice Department launched an antitrust probe into the NFL, with a government official previously telling The Post: “This is about affordability for consumers and creating an even playing field for providers.”
And Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr has warned the NFL could lose its antitrust exemptions if it sticks too many live games behind paywalls.
He suggested the matter might come down to how streaming is classified.
“There’s a live question at this point about whether putting games on Netflix or YouTube TV or other entities like that … is that a sponsored telecast or is that something else?” Carr told The Post in March.
“And if it’s something else, then it’s not clear that the antitrust exemption applies,” he added.
A February FCC filing noted NFL games aired last year on Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, Netflix, YouTube and six other streamers — potentially costing an estimated $1,500 to watch every pro football game.
“For decades, Americans enjoyed turning on their TV & quickly finding the game they wanted to see. Yet watching your favorite team play isn’t as easy these day,” Carr wrote in a Feb. 25 post on X.
