NFL takes heat from GOP, Trump DOJ on cost of watching games

Federal regulators and members of Congress are voicing frustration with the NFL’s media rights dealmaking and are vowing to rein in its unmatched leverage in the live sports marketplace.  

The Roger Goodell-led pro football league is reportedly the subject of an investigation by President Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ), with regulators alleging it engaged in anticompetitive behavior when negotiating its recent record-breaking deals providing the rights to several companies to broadcast its games.

The most popular and profitable sports league in the world by a wide margin, the NFL raked in more than $110 billion with its most recent broadcast rights agreements and has for decades partnered with legacy media behemoths like Fox, CBS and Disney to show its games over linear broadcast channels on Sunday afternoons and in primetime.   

But in a new era of sports broadcasting that now involves streaming and tech companies with deep pockets, new questions are emerging about how the NFL does business and what that means for consumers.  

NFL games are increasingly locked behind paywalls, making it more expensive for fans to watch their favorite teams. Fans who wished to watch every NFL game last season had to pay upwards of $1,000 and subscribe to 10 services to do so, according to estimates by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill and Trump administration regulators are looking to tap into fan frustration, something that could threaten the NFL’s core business model.  

It’s something the NFL has noticed, as it has stepped up its lobbying and public relations efforts in Washington significantly in recent years, spending more than $1 million in campaign contributions last year, according to OpenSecrets.  

“The NFL has a strong interest in being able to preserve the way things are now because in their view the way they package their media rights is what makes them so valuable,” said Kevin C. Paule, a sports business and antitrust attorney. 

Rising prices have led more than 40 percent of Americans to report cutting back on streaming subscriptions largely undergirded by live sports, according to a recent report.

The NFL’s unique position in the media marketplace among sports leagues can be drawn back........

© The Hill