The head of the National Football League has turned down a request to appear before lawmakers next week regarding the organization’s television contracts and its growing trend of placing games behind streaming service paywalls.
Roger Goodell refused the invitation to attend a House Judiciary Committee session scheduled for June 10 because of “ongoing litigation related to the topic of the hearing,” according to a Wednesday letter from the organization’s general counsel, Ted Ullyot, addressed to committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
Jordan represents one of multiple lawmakers who have expressed worry about the financial burden placed on supporters trying to view NFL contests and questioned whether the organization’s streaming agreements follow the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which provided the league with a restricted antitrust exemption.
The legislation covers only broadcast networks. Previous court decisions have determined it excludes other media formats, such as cable, satellite and streaming platforms. Politicians from both parties have shown support for modernizing the statute.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department launched an investigation into the NFL regarding possible anticompetitive behavior connected to its broadcasting agreements.
In his correspondence to Jordan, Ullyot noted that 87% of the organization’s contests will be accessible through over-the-air broadcasts this season, with every match available on broadcast television in the participating teams’ local markets. He mentioned that the growing number of contests on streaming platforms has coincided with a small decrease in games broadcast on cable.
“The NFL’s decision to license a few more games to widely adopted streaming services is simply a reflection that those platforms now offer significantly more reach than the current pay TV ecosystem and that broadcast television remains the foundation of our media distribution,” Ullyot wrote.
A spokeswoman for Jordan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The organization also forwarded a letter to Jordan bearing signatures from 21 members of Congress advocating for careful consideration before modifying the broadcasting statute. Ullyot’s correspondence stated the SBA helps preserve competitive balance by supporting “broad media distribution, substantial revenue sharing among the clubs, and a collectively bargained salary cap.”
“If the league were not to handle media distribution as it has since the passage of the SBA,” the letter said, “the result would be to harm NFL fans through increased cost and confusion and the undermining of the competitive balance that makes NFL games so exciting.”
