Donald Trump openly criticized the NFL for their games being behind numerous paywalls, with as many as 10 different subscriptions needed to watch all the games in the 2026 season
07:34 ET, 03 Jun 2026
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks at an event unveiling plans to host the 2027 NFL Draft in DC with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on May 5, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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Roger Goodell looks set to testifty after Donald Trump criticized the NFL's streaming model
Roger Goodell has been summoned to testify before Congress as the NFL continues to face scrutiny after the U.S Justice Department launched an investigation.
The NFL has announced it's broadcast deals for the 2026 season with 10 different subscriptions needed to watch every game. Such packages will cost fans in the United States a total of over $1,000, as platforms such as Netflix, Paramount, and YouTube now have exclusive streaming rights alongside regular broadcasters FOX, CBS, NBC, and ESPN.
In April, the Department of Justice launched a probe into the NFL’s media rights deals, looking into whether the league’s distribution model is forcing viewers to overpay.
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A letter was sent to the NFL's commissioner, Goodell, from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, with his appearance requested at a hearing on June 10.
The NFL must be in compliance with the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which grants leagues the ability to hand out their media rights, but only does so to broadcast networks.
In previous cases, courts have ruled that it does not apply to other media, including streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube.
Roger Goodell became the NFL Commissioner in September 2006
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Roger Goodell became the NFL Commissioner in September 2006(Image: Getty)
Speaking on the league's subscription fees, Donald Trump told Sharyl Attkisson: "You've got people that love football. They don't make enough money to go and pay for this. And they [the NFL] could be killing the golden goose. Others have tried this, and all of a sudden you don't have a sport anymore.
"There's something very sad when they take football away from many, many people. Very sad. I don't like it.
"They're making a lot of money. They could make a little bit less. They could let the people see.
"You have people that live for Sunday. They can't think about anything else,' before slamming costs. And then all of a sudden, they're gonna have to pay $1,000 a game. It's crazy. So, I'm not happy about it."
Trump is a big NFL fan
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Trump is a big NFL fan(Image: Getty Images)
An NFL executive had spoken to ESPN on their subscriptions, stating: "We love our model. We think we have the most fan-friendly model there is of any sport or entertainment as far as distribution. We think broadcast [networks] have been an incredible home.
"And, now, we also know fans are increasingly spending their time on other platforms as well. They tune into broadcast for the NFL and that's where we want to be.
"But we also want to be on these platforms with a limited amount of our games where we know our NFL fans are already as well.
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"When we're going onto Netflix, we're going onto a platform that is already massively adopted and a huge number of viewers on that platform already, including a huge number of NFL fans."