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The House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on whether major sports leagues, particularly the NFL, benefit consumers or are violating the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 by funneling games behind increasingly expensive paywalls, was a one-sided debate.
During the two-hour hearing, Republicans and Democrats on the committee did something rarely seen in Washington, D.C. these days: They mostly agreed.
Then another strange sight, as if seeing a unicorn wasn’t enough… the witnesses invited to testify all came to the issue from virtually the same side and were generally not interrupted by committee members eager to make up their time.
Scathing Judiciary Committee report accuses NFL of extending antitrust exemption
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stands next to the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the Seattle Seahawks-New England Patriots game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on February 8, 2026. (Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
It was like watching an All-Pro team wipe out a list of undrafted free agents who decided not to step on the field.
And the NFL was the last in this scenario because commissioner Roger Goodell was invited to testify but refused. And the league had no one to defend it.
When Pak Gazette Digital reached out to the NFL after the hearing to ask for its side of the matter, there was no response. The NFL did not discuss all matters related to this important hearing.
And the feeling here is that the league might come to regret staying silent because the calls to prevent it from diverting its games to paid streaming services were loud behind the microphones. Consumer complaints about rising prices for watching games on those streaming sites were multiple and unopposed.
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So the NFL was defeated this afternoon at the Capitol.
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., leaves a House Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol Hill Club on Feb. 28, 2023.
Member after member expressed concerns about major sports leagues in general and the NFL in particular enjoying the antitrust exemption provided by the Sports Broadcasting Act, while conducting their businesses outside the confines of the Act’s antitrust exemption that protects them.
Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Status, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust Chairman Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., explained what the SBA was supposed to do.
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“Congress believed that joint television agreements would help make the games more available to the public,” Fitzgerald said in his opening statement. “It would also preserve the competitive balance between teams and keep the professional sports league financially viable.
“In return, Congress sought to maximize the public interest by limiting the exemption only to ‘sponsored television broadcasts,’ ensuring that fans had access to their favorite sports teams. However, sixty-five years later, it is fair for this body to ask whether professional sports leagues have held up their end of the bargain. In my opinion, they have not, and sports fans are paying the price for it.”
Fitzgerald sharply criticized the league’s claim that 100 percent of its “home market games” are available free-to-air, over-the-air and 87 percent of games have “primary distribution” on broadcast television.
Fitzgerald showed a clipping from Sunday Ticket’s own website attempting to convince consumers to buy the product by warning that in the first month of the season “94% of teams tend to have games on CBS and FOX that are shown in less than half the country.”
Streaming service EverPass Media announced it will become the exclusive commercial provider of NFL Sunday Ticket beginning with the 2026 season. (Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)
So Sunday Ticket’s speech to fans directly contradicts the NFL’s claims.
And what did the NFL say to that?
Nothing, because Goodell refused to testify, no one else took his place to represent the league’s interests and the NFL did not want to comment on the matter.
Curtis LeGeyt, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, attended the hearing to advocate for free local radio and television stations in the United States.
“NAB is not calling for the repeal of the Sports Broadcasting Act,” LeGeyt said. “What we are asking is for the committee to assert its guardrails that should govern negotiations between the league and broadcasters. It is not intended to allow sports to hide behind paywalls.”
LeGeyt also said the law is being “abused” and asked the committee to ensure its enforcement.
The NFL, of course, had no one present to push back against the idea that it is breaking the law. I didn’t have anyone arguing that millions of Americans are already behind these so-called paywalls and that a new generation of people don’t patronize over-the-air television.
And the reason the NFL couldn’t make that point clear is why? Because Goodell rejected the committee’s invitation to do so and the NFL found no ally in this hearing.
CLAY TRAVIS SAYS THE NFL SHOULD OFFER A SEPARATE TICKET OPTION FOR SUNDAY TO SAVE FANS MONEY.
OutKick founder and Pak Gazette contributor Clay Travis interviews former President Trump during halftime of the Georgia-Alabama football game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Charles Hunnell/OutKick)
Clay Travis, a Pak Gazette contributor and founder of OutKick, brought to the committee the kind of populist thinking that made his site a rising star in the media landscape.
“All of this,” Travis said in his opening statement, “needs to be examined through the prism of the reasonable sports fan, people like me and their constituents, regular fans, who just want to be able to watch their favorite teams for a reasonable price without being extorted.”
Travis highlighted what’s happening in Buffalo now and in the second week of the NFL season. The Bills will play their first game in their new stadium on September 17, 2026 against the Detroit Lions on Thursday night.
Buffalo’s new $2.2 billion stadium that will host the game was funded, in part, by New York taxpayers who are paying $600 million and Erie County taxpayers who are paying another $200 million.
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But while the game will air for free in the Buffalo television market, Bills fans in nearby Rochester and Syracuse, who are helping fund the facility with their tax dollars, will need to have an Amazon Prime Video membership to stream the broadcast.
They pay taxes to pay for the stadium. And they have to pay to watch the game from home.
And what did the NFL say in response to this apparent unfair situation? You guessed it. Nothing.
FOLLOW ARMANDO SALGUERO ON X: @ARMANDOSALGUERO
