The Department of Justice is now investigating the National Football League for anticompetitive practices that harm consumers.
Here’s more from the WSJ:
The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether the National Football League has engaged in anticompetitive tactics that harm consumers, according to people familiar with the situation.
The Sports Broadcasting Act grants the league limited antitrust protection to allow the teams to collectively negotiate packages of TV rights. Media companies, regulators and members of Congress have raised concerns in recent months over how difficult it is for consumers to be able to watch their favorite sports games as a result of rights deals in which leagues offer smaller packages of games to streamers.
According to what I’ve found on X, the crux of this surrounds the NFL selling games to paywall streamers like Amazon Prime, Peacock, etc:
When the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 was passed, consumers largely were able to watch NFL games over broadcast TV. Now, games appear on a host of different channels and platforms, some of which require a subscription.
In February, the Federal Communications Commission announced it was seeking public comment on how this dynamic had affected consumers. Republican Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, submitted a letter last month to the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission requesting a review of the antitrust exemption for the league.
“To watch every NFL game during the past season, football fans spent almost $1,000 on cable and streaming subscriptions,” Lee wrote in his letter. The NFL has said it is the most fan-friendly league with 87% of its games available on local TV, more than many other sports that have largely migrated to streaming services and cable channels.
When NFL games are shown on streaming services, they are also available in the local TV markets of the two teams playing.
I don’t know about $1,000+ per year to watch every game. I guess if you add up 12 months of subscriptions for each of the streaming platforms and cable, you might end up with that number, but I expect most people who don’t already subscribe to some of these platforms just subscribe for one month and cancel.