The Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether the National Football League has engaged in anticompetitive practices, amid growing frustration from fans over the league’s increasing shift toward airing games on subscription TV services, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing probe.
The exact scope of the investigation, which was first reported Thursday by the Wall Street Journal, and when it began were not immediately clear. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment Thursday, but a government official familiar with the investigation’s origins said, “This is about affordability for consumers and creating an even playing field for providers.”
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have raised concerns in recent months about what they describe as the rising costs of NFL fandom. Increasingly, viewers have been forced to subscribe to online streaming platforms and services to catch all the games played by their favorite teams, many of which were previously available through deals negotiated with broadcast TV providers.
The NFL and other professional sports leagues enjoy limited antitrust protection under the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act, which allows teams to collectively pool their media rights to form large broadcast packages.
But some lawmakers — including Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), and Rep. Pat Ryan (D-New York) — have urged President Donald Trump’s administration to review that exemption amid a media environment in which subscription TV services have financial muscle that gives them a leg up in negotiations.
“The modern distribution environment differs substantially from the conditions that precipitated this exemption,” Lee wrote in a letterto the Justice Department last month. “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 Federal Communications Commission said in February that NFL games aired on 10 different services in 2025. That included 20 regular season games and one playoff game that aired exclusively across four subscription streaming services, including Prime Video, YouTube, Peacock and Netflix. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
“According to some estimates [that] could cost a consumer over $1,500 to watch all games,” the commission said in a statement announcing it would begin soliciting public comment on how the increasingly fragmented sports media environment was affecting consumers.
The NFL did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday about the Justice Department’s investigation or about the recent deals struck with subscription providers.
However, league officials said in a February statement that nearly 90 percent of its games air on free broadcast networks. They stressed that when games air on streaming networks such as Prime Video, Peacock and ESPN+, they also air locally on broadcast channels in the cities of the two teams playing.
“The NFL has the most accessible, fan-friendly distribution model across all of sports and entertainment,” according to the statement.
The post Justice Department opens antitrust probe into NFL broadcasting deals appeared first on Washington Post.
