Justice Department is investigating
the NFL for potential anticompetitive practices, AP source says
[April 10, 2026]
By JOE REEDY and ERIC TUCKER
The Justice Department is investigating the NFL for potential
anticompetitive practices, according to a government official.
The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing
investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday,
said the investigation is “about affordability for consumers and
creating an even playing field for providers.”
The investigation was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The NFL has not received a notification that the league is being
investigated, according to two other people with knowledge of the
situation. Those people spoke on condition of anonymity because they
are not authorized to speak on possible legal matters.
The investigation comes amid increasing federal scrutiny of the
amount of money fans are paying to watch sports on television. The
Federal Communications Commission, for example, is seeking public
comments on the ongoing shift of live sports from broadcast channels
to streaming services.
The NFL said in a statement Thursday that over 87% of its games are
available on broadcast television, including all that are played in
a team's local market.
“The NFL’s media distribution model is the most fan and
broadcaster-friendly in the entire sports and entertainment
industry. The 2025 season was our most viewed since 1989 and
reflects the strength of the NFL distribution model and its wide
availability to all fans,” the league said in its statement.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Senate judiciary subcommittee on
antitrust, competition policy, and consumer rights, wrote a letter
to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission on March
3 urging them to review whether the NFL’s distribution methods are
in line with the Sports Broadcasting Act, which grants limited
antitrust immunity to allow teams to collectively license game
broadcasts to national networks.
“The modern distribution environment differs substantially from the
conditions that precipitated this exemption. Instead of a small
number of free broadcast networks, the NFL now licenses games
simultaneously to subscription streaming platforms, premium cable
networks, and technology companies operating under different
business models,” the Republican senator wrote. “To the extent
collectively licensed game packages are placed behind subscription
paywalls, these arrangements may no longer align with the statutory
concept of sponsored telecasting or the consumer-access rationale
underlying the antitrust exemption.”
Lee said in his letter that football fans spent almost $1,000 on
cable and streaming subscriptions. Forbes estimated the cost of
watching every NFL game via streaming last season at $765.
The NFL aired games last season on CBS, NBC, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+, Fox,
NFL Network, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube TV.
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In this Aug. 13, 2021, file photo, an NFL logo is displayed on
a goal post pad during an NFL preseason football game between the
Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rick Osentoski,
File)
The league averages nearly $11 billion per season
in revenue from its media deals. That could increase since the sale
of Paramount to Skydance Media allows the league to renegotiate its
deal with CBS.
The rights deals go through 2033 with most outlets
and 2034 with ESPN. The league has an opt-out clause after the 2029
season, which it is likely to exercise since 83 of the top 100
broadcasts last year were NFL games, according to Nielsen.
The Sports Broadcasting Act exemption passed in 1961 applies only to
broadcast television. Courts have ruled in the past that it does not
apply to other media, including cable, satellite and streaming.
The law includes a rule allowing blackouts of local games, which
still applies to out-of-market packages sold by the league. The NFL
ended local TV blackouts, which applied to games within 75 miles of
a team’s market if they did not sell out 72 hours before kickoff,
after the 2014 season.
Last year, the House Judiciary Committee requested briefings from
the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB on whether antitrust exemptions should
still be granted for coordinating their broadcast television rights.
All four of the major North American professional sports leagues
have deals with streaming platforms.
In 2024, a jury in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ruled the NFL
violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday
afternoon games on a premium subscription service and awarded $4.7
billion in damages.
A federal judge overturned the verdict in the class-action lawsuit
because the testimony of two witnesses for the subscribers had
flawed methodologies and should have been excluded.
The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000
businesses in the United States who paid for the “Sunday Ticket”
package on DirecTV of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022
seasons.
Because damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL
could have been liable for $14,121,779,833.92.
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