NFL Defends Media Rights Strategy as DOJ and FCC Increase Scrutiny Over Streaming Impact

The National Football League is taking a proactive stance as regulators from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) intensify their scrutiny of the league’s media rights strategy and its impact on consumers amid the sports industry’s shift toward streaming.

On April 17, NFL executives Ted Ullyot, Hans Schroeder, and Jeff Miller met with Greg Watson, chief of staff to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, as well as Allison Howell, attorney advisor, and Evan Morris, Deputy Bureau Chief of the FCC Media Bureau. The meeting focused on the league’s distribution approach for live games and its benefits for fans and local broadcasters.

The NFL outlined its commitment to fans in a Tuesday letter, stating:

“Since its founding, the NFL has strived to put its fans at the center of everything we do. Nowhere is that more evident than in the NFL’s media distribution strategy, which for more than 50 years has served as a foundation and catalyst for the League’s growth and popularity. While nothing can replace the excitement of attending a game, the vast majority of fans rely on this media distribution model to watch live games and follow the sport they love.”

The league emphasized its reliance on free, over-the-air broadcast television as the primary method for distributing games to over 200 million fans in the U.S. According to the letter:

“For many years, 100% of NFL games have aired on broadcast television in the home markets of the competing teams. Most of those games are distributed to a significantly broader geographic area, if not nationally.”

The NFL’s contracts with ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC account for the distribution of more than 87% of all NFL games, a figure that has remained consistent over the past two decades. The league argued that this model benefits fans, local broadcasters, all 32 clubs—regardless of market size—and the competitiveness of the game itself. The success of this strategy was highlighted by the 2025 season, which was the most viewed since 1989 and one of the most competitive in league history.

The NFL warned that allowing individual teams to negotiate their own media rights deals could lead to viewer confusion and higher costs for consumers.

In addition to the letter, the NFL provided the FCC with a presentation detailing key trends in media consumption. Between 2015 and 2025, traditional TV consumption declined from 77% to 47%, while streaming consumption rose from 23% to 53%. During the same period, the number of pay TV households dropped from 99 million to 65 million.

Despite these shifts, the NFL noted that 86 of the top 100 TV programs in 2025 were NFL games. The presentation also highlighted strong performance in streaming:

• Amazon’s Thursday Night Football saw a 16% year-over-year ratings increase, reaching an average of 15.4 million viewers in 2025. The service has approximately 180 million subscribers.
• CBS’ Sunday package grew 11% to 21.3 million average viewers.
• Fox’s Sunday package increased 6% to 19.6 million viewers.
• NBC’s Sunday Night Football rose 11% to 23.5 million viewers.
• ESPN’s Monday Night Football also saw significant viewership gains.