Overview
- House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan invited NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to testify at a June 10 hearing titled “Examining the Sports Broadcasting Act,” a request first sent on June 1 and publicly disclosed by multiple outlets.
- Goodell formally declined the invitation on June 3, with the NFL’s general counsel citing ongoing litigation related to the hearing’s subject as the reason for not appearing.
- The Justice Department opened an antitrust review in April and the Federal Communications Commission has sought public comment on sports fragmentation, so the decline leaves regulatory probes as the main public venue for scrutiny.
- The NFL says roughly 87% of games remain on free, over-the-air TV and that team home markets keep local access, while critics point to higher consumer costs that can push season viewing into the high hundreds or about $1,000 when subscribing to multiple streamers.
- Lawmakers are weighing policy fixes that could change how the Sports Broadcasting Act is applied, which matters because the league’s current media-rights deals run through 2033 and are reported to be worth about $110 billion overall.