The NFL Is Under Investigation Again (Here's what's going on)

TL;DR

The DOJ is investigating the NFL over whether its TV broadcast deals violate antitrust law by locking games behind expensive streaming paywalls.

Key Points

• 1.The DOJ is investigating whether NFL broadcast contracts violate antitrust law. The core legal argument is that the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 granted the NFL an antitrust exemption assuming games would air on free broadcast TV, but deals with Netflix, Amazon, and Peacock now put them behind paywalls.
• 2.The NFL claims 87% of games are on free broadcast TV, but the real number for any single fan is far lower. A rough calculation estimates only ~28% of games are accessible on free broadcast TV for a fan living in one city, since they can't be in multiple markets simultaneously.
• 3.Sunday Ticket is the supposed solution but has major flaws. It's increasingly expensive, doesn't include Sunday Night Football (on NBC/Peacock), and blacks out local games — meaning fans still need separate broadcast access on top of paying for Sunday Ticket.
• 4.Possible outcomes range from no change to forced restructuring, with smaller regional packages as one proposal. One suggestion is AFC East or similar divisional packages for out-of-town fans, which would cost less than Sunday Ticket; if found guilty, the NFL could be mandated to restructure deals, but the earliest impact would be 2029 when current contracts have an opt-out.
• 5.Fox is suspected of tipping off the DOJ because the NFL plans to drop them in 2029. The league believes Fox went to the DOJ as retaliation for being cut from future broadcast deals, meaning a corporate dispute may inadvertently lead to more consumer-friendly pricing.