Sponsored

POTUS Slams NFL Streaming Costs As DOJ Investigates League

By No Comments
Philadelphia Eagles
Photo Credit: "NFL Week 3 Washington Commanders vs. Philadelphia Eagles (52393450672)" by All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

President Donald Trump blasted the soaring cost of watching NFL games Sunday as his administration investigates whether the league’s growing reliance on streaming platforms has crossed into anti-competitive territory.

The president accused the NFL of pricing out ordinary fans while warning league executives they could destroy the sport’s long-term popularity if games keep disappearing behind expensive subscription paywalls.

“You got people that love football. They’re great people, they don’t make enough money to go and pay this,” Trump said during an interview with journalist Sharyl Attkisson.

“It’s tough. And [the NFL] could be killing the golden goose.”

The comments landed as both the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission continue scrutinizing the NFL’s media agreements with companies including Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and Peacock.

At the center of the investigation is whether the league’s shift toward streaming-only broadcasts violates the spirit of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 — the law that grants the NFL its powerful antitrust exemption.

That exemption allows the league to negotiate enormous television contracts collectively rather than team by team.

But critics argue the original law was written decades before modern streaming platforms existed and was intended to keep games broadly accessible on free television.

Fans now often need multiple subscriptions to watch a full NFL season.

According to reporting from The New York Times, following every NFL game last season could cost viewers more than $600 once various streaming services and packages were added together.

Trump said the price hikes were pushing football away from the working-class audience that helped turn the NFL into America’s dominant sports league.

🗳️Turning Point PAC is deploying the largest ballot-chasing operation in U.S. History to secure key battleground states. 🗳️ Keep our grassroots army in the field and protect future victories! ➡️➡️➡️ DONATE TODAY!!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

“There’s something very sad when they take football away from many, many people,” Trump commented. “I don’t like it.”

The president also suggested league executives were becoming too aggressive in chasing revenue.

“They’re making a lot of money. They could make a little bit less,” Trump argued.

“You’ve got people that live for Sunday. They live, they can’t think about anything else, and then all of a sudden they’re going to have to pay $1,000 a game? It’s crazy, so, I’m not happy about it.”

Trump additionally criticized the NFL’s controversial “dynamic kickoff” system, which the league says was designed to reduce head injuries.

The president warned the league risked watering down the sport itself if officials continued dramatically changing the rules.

“They have to be careful because others have tried this and all of a sudden you don’t have a sport anymore,” Trump added

The NFL has defended both its media strategy and its broadcast accessibility.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell argued earlier this year that the league still reaches a massive audience through traditional television.

“It’s the most accessible game out there, and most accessible in any league,” Goodell said. “Over 87 percent of our games go on free television.”

Goodell also defended the NFL’s partnerships with newer streaming companies by comparing them to the league’s earlier expansion onto cable television.

“We go to platforms that are new. We went to ESPN back in the 80s,” Goodell detailed.

“That has been a great move for our fans and has developed new ways to engage with the NFL.”

Still, the federal probes have intensified concerns around the league’s future business model.

The Wall Street Journal reported in April that the Justice Department formally opened an investigation into whether the NFL’s media agreements amount to anti-competitive pricing.

Lawmakers from both parties have also started pressuring regulators to revisit the league’s antitrust protections.

Sen. Mike Lee, the Republican chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, pushed for federal agencies to review whether the NFL still deserves its special exemption.

Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin separately announced plans for legislation aimed at reducing sports blackouts and lowering viewing costs for consumers.

Questions surrounding the NFL’s media structure come as Trump ratchets up criticism of the broader direction of American sports.

The White House has also begun pushing for major changes across college athletics as universities struggle with soaring NIL payments, transfer portal chaos and ballooning costs.

Trump recently signed an executive order describing college sports as an “out-of-control financial arms race.”

The administration warned the current system threatens women’s sports, smaller athletic programs and the educational mission of universities.

“Further delay is not an option given what is at stake,” the order stated.

A White House-backed proposal reportedly includes examining pooled media rights, rewriting eligibility rules, limiting coaching salaries and overhauling transfer regulations.

The draft proposal would also create a federal task force with broad authority over college sports governance.

Trump has repeatedly argued college athletics is spiraling into financial chaos.

“Crazy things are happening,” he said during a White House roundtable last month.

The administration’s sports focus has stretched beyond football.

Trump also weighed in recently on the fractured relationship between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour.

Speaking from the Oval Office last week, the president argued golf fans want the sport’s biggest stars competing against one another again.

“I want to see Rory [McIlroy] playing Bryson DeChambeau,” Trump said.

“I want to see big Jon Rahm playing Scottie [Scheffler], who is so great.”

Trump made another appearance Saturday at the LIV Golf Virginia tournament held at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.

The president watched portions of the event behind a glass partition while speaking with his son Eric Trump.

The appearance came less than a week after Trump attended the final round of the PGA Tour’s Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral in Miami.

Leave A Reply