The House Judiciary Committee has asked NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to testify at a hearing next week regarding the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. Goodell is not inclined to accept the invitation.
Via John Ourand of Puck, Goodell will “politely decline” to appear.
The hearing is the latest step in an effort to pressure the NFL regarding its broadcast antitrust exemption. The assault seems to trace to Fox owner Rupert Murdoch, who is believed to be using any/all political and P.R. levers in an effort to push back against the NFL’s apparent plan to get its current TV partners to pay more for deals that are already in place through the 2029 season.
The stakes are nevertheless high for the NFL. The SBA arguably applies only to league-wide packages sold to over-the-air networks, like Fox, CBS, NBC, and ABC. The antitrust exemption possibly does not apply to cable or streamer providers. By selling packages to companies like Amazon, Netflix, and ESPN, the league could be violating the terms of its exemption.
Then there’s the question of whether the entire exemption, which dates back to 1961, should go away entirely. (Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal has flagged that very question.)
If that happens, the NFL’s entire economic model would be plunged into chaos. And it could result in a gross disparity in revenues among the teams, with the league potentially fracturing into two separate operations — those teams that can negotiate significant TV deals for their home games (like the Cowboys), and those that can’t.
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