Things have escalated very quickly for the NFL and the federal government with the Department of Justice reportedly opening an antitrust investigation against the country’s most popular sports league.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the government has begun an investigation on whether or not the league has “engaged in anticompetitive tactics that harm consumers.” However, the size and scope of the investigation are not yet known.
The DOJ investigation comes on the heels of building public pressure from other government officials. FCC chairman Brendan Carr, who has been very outspoken about wielding the weight of his office in ways not seen before, has recently turned his attention to the NFL.
Last month Carr openly questioned whether the NFL should still benefit from the antitrust elements of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 after moving games to exclusive streaming partners.
The pressure comes as the NFL is set to renegotiate its current rights deals. The process is now well and truly underway with CBS and Paramount being purchased by Skydance and the Ellison family, triggering a change-of-ownership clause. The league is expecting at least a 50% increase in fees that could see their annual rights revenue reach $16 billion.
Given how active the Trump administration has been in protecting political friends and prosecuting political foes, it is quite the coincidence that the move to protect broadcast television comes with the Ellison and Murdoch family standing with the most to lose at CBS and Fox respectively. Both families are two of Donald Trump’s most prominent billionaire supporters.
However, the political pressure on the NFL and other sports leagues is not contained to one side of the political aisle. Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren has been a consistent voice arguing that rights fees and consumer costs are spiraling out of control. She sent her own letter to the FCC just this week about media consolidation making sporting events less accessible.
However, letters from senators and comments from the FCC are very different from an active DOJ investigation. That means it’s a whole new ballgame for the NFL and could stand as the biggest threat to their insurmountable media empire.