The Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether the National Football League has engaged in anticompetitive practices, amid growing frustration from fans over the league’s increasing shift toward airing more games on subscription TV services, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing probe.
The exact scope of the investigation and when it began are not immediately clear. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment Thursday, but a government official familiar with the investigation’s origins said, “This is about affordability for consumers and creating an even playing field for providers.”
The NFL and other professional sports leagues enjoy limited antitrust protection under the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act, which allows teams to collectively pool their media rights to form large broadcast packages.
But lawmakers on Capitol Hill have urged President Donald Trump’s administration to review that exception and have raised concerns about what they describe as the rising costs of NFL fandom.
Increasingly, viewers have been forced to subscribe to online streaming platforms and services to watch all the games played by their favorite teams, many of which were previously available through deals negotiated with free broadcast TV providers.
In 2025, NFL games aired on 10 different services, according to the Federal Communications Commission. That included 20 regular-season games and one playoff game that were available exclusively on four subscription-based platforms, including Prime Video, YouTube, Peacock and Netflix. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
“According to some estimates (that) could cost a consumer over $1,500 to watch all games,” the commission said in a February statement announcing it would begin soliciting public comment on how the increasingly fragmented sports media environment was affecting consumers.
In a March letter, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, urged the Justice Department and FCC to look into those deals, saying the financial muscle backing subscription broadcast services could give them an unfair advantage over broadcast competitors.
“The modern distribution environment differs substantially from the conditions that precipitated this exemption,” Lee wrote. “Instead of a small number of free broadcast networks, the NFL now licenses games simultaneously to subscription streaming platforms, premium cable networks and technology companies operating under different business models.”
The NFL did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday about the Justice Department’s investigation or the recent deals struck with subscription providers.
However, in a statement, it said nearly 90% of its games air on free broadcast networks. The league stressed that games subject to exclusive national broadcast deals with subscription services also air locally on broadcast channels in the cities of the two teams playing.
“The NFL has the most accessible, fan-friendly distribution model across all of sports and entertainment,” according to the statement.
The news of the Justice Department probe was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp. The company is controlled by the Murdoch family, which also holds a controlling stake in Fox Corp., the parent company of the Fox Broadcasting Network, a leading broadcaster of NFL games.
Fox has voiced concerns over the NFL’s recent deals with streaming services and has submitted statements to the FCC in recent weeks urging greater scrutiny.