06/03/26 04:56:00
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06/03 16:54 CDT NFL commissioner Roger Goodell won't testify before Congress
about league's TV and streaming deals
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell won't testify before Congress about league's TV
and streaming deals
By BEN NUCKOLS
AP Sports Writer
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will not testify before Congress next week about
the league's broadcast deals and its recent practice of airing games on
paywalled streaming services.
Goodell declined an invitation to appear at a House Judiciary Committee hearing
on June 10 "due to ongoing litigation related to the topic of the hearing," the
league's general counsel, Ted Ullyot, wrote in a letter Wednesday to the
committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
Jordan is one of several elected officials who've raised concerns about the
prices fans have to pay to watch NFL games and whether the league's streaming
deals comply with the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which granted the league
a limited antitrust exemption.
The law applies only to broadcast networks. Courts have ruled in the past that
it does not apply to other media, including cable, satellite and streaming.
There has been bipartisan sentiment in favor of updating the law.
This spring, the Justice Department began investigating the NFL for potential
anticompetitive practices related to its broadcast deals.
In his letter to Jordan, Ullyot said 87% of the league's games will be
available over the air this season, and that every game in the competing teams'
home markets is on broadcast television. He said the increased number of games
on streaming services has corresponded with a slight drop in games shown on
cable.
"The NFL's decision to license a few more games to widely adopted streaming
services is simply a reflection that those platforms now offer significantly
more reach than the current pay TV ecosystem and that broadcast television
remains the foundation of our media distribution," Ullyot wrote.
A spokeswoman for Jordan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The league also sent a letter to Jordan signed by 21 members of Congress urging
caution with any changes to the broadcasting law. Ullyot's letter said the SBA
helps maintain competitive balance because it supports "broad media
distribution, substantial revenue sharing among the clubs, and a collectively
bargained salary cap."
"If the league were not to handle media distribution as it has since the
passage of the SBA," the letter said, "the result would be to harm NFL fans
through increased cost and confusion and the undermining of the competitive
balance that makes NFL games so exciting."
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AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy contributed to this report.
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