The most popular sports league in America is now in the Justice Department’s crosshairs.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the DOJ has launched an investigation into the National Football League (NFL) over whether the league has engaged in anticompetitive practices that harm customers.
Per the Journal, this could seriously jeopardize the NFL’s antitrust exemption.
Professional sports leagues like the NFL are currently protected from antitrust action under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.
The New York Post notes that this law has allowed teams to pool their media rights together into large TV packages.
The NFL has, in recent years, shifted some games to streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix, forcing customers to pay $1,000 to watch every professional football game.
This has turned into a massive windfall for the NFL and streaming companies.
More from the Post:
Media rights agreements between the NFL and streamers owned by Disney, Paramount, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, NFL Network, Amazon, Google, and Netflix are expected to rake in more than $100 billion in sports rights fees under their current contracts, according to the FCC’s filing in February.
Fox Corporation shares common ownership with The Post’s parent company, News Corp.
Pricey media rights deals have turned the NFL into a serious money-making business, with nearly all of the league’s 32 teams run by billionaires – including Walmart heir Rob Walton, who owns the Denver Broncos, and the Hunt family, which owns the Kansas City Chiefs.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr informed the Post last month that the NFL could lose its exemptions if it puts too many live games behind paywalls.
“For so long, Americans were used to just sitting down and grabbing the remote and just very quickly and easily finding the game,” Carr told The Post.
“Over the last couple of years, that experience has become much more frustrating and people have to sign up for multiple streaming services and they have to pay out of pocket for more of these and it’s difficult to find the game,” he added.
The Post reported in February that the FCC sought comments from sports fans on how streamers have affected them.
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), the Senate’s antitrust subcommittee chairman, sent a letter to the DOJ and the FTC in March requesting a review of the NFL’s antitrust protections.
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