The NFL’s media policies were the stated topic of a House Judiciary Committee hearing held Wednesday, but much like many other things these days in Washington, the session soon veered in broader political divides.
The league’s collective rights negotiations on behalf of all 32 teams, as well as a growing embrace of streamers, received bipartisan rebuke from legislators—but only to a point.
Just as there was shared concern over increasing financial and logistical hurdles for NFL fans amid increasing media fragmentation, Democrats and Republicans squabbled over how to address those issues.
“Sixty-five years [after the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961] it is fair for this body to ask whether the professional sports leagues have held up their end of the bargain,” said Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R., Wisc.) during the roughly two-hour hearing. “In my opinion, they have not, and sports fans are paying the price because of it. … Because [the NFL] does not follow America’s antitrust laws for television agreements, they can charge consumers inflated prices that would otherwise be illegal.”
Democrats, however, said the Republican majority that leads the committee is improperly not as concerned about megamergers and accelerating consolidation elsewhere in the media industry. Foremost among that wave is a planned $110 billion takeover of TNT Sports parent company Warner Bros. Discovery by CBS Sports parent company Paramount—something that has taken on overt political overtones due to Paramount CEO David Ellison’s close ties to U.S. President Donald Trump.
