NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is saying “no thank you” to an invitation by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to testify at a hearing regarding the league’s broadcast model.
According to a report by Puck’s John Ourand, Goodell plans to “politely decline” the invitation to appear on Capitol Hill next week, as the House Judiciary Committee plans to discuss the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, the piece of federal legislation that awards a limited antitrust exemption to the four major North American professional sports leagues. The exemption allows the leagues to bundle and sell broadcast rights as a collective, rather than on a team-by-team basis.
Fragmentation of these rights among various different platforms — including broadcast, cable, and streaming — has drawn scrutiny from the federal government of late, with officials citing the difficulty fans face to access live sports as the impetus for multiple inquiries by the DOJ and FCC.
Goodell and his NFL lieutenants have made similar decisions not to appear before Congress in recent years. Thirteen months ago, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation held a hearing on much the same topic: fragmentation in sports broadcasting. The committee invited representatives from all four major sports leagues, but only the NFL declined to appear at the hearing.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who chaired the 2025 hearing, expressed disappointment at the NFL’s absence.
“I wish they had come,” Cruz told Awful Announcing following the proceedings. “I think the issues that were discussed apply to them just like they apply to the leagues that were here.”
Despite Congress’s failed efforts to get NFL officials to speak on-the-record at a hearing, the league has certainly been active in its lobbying efforts in Washington behind closed doors. In April, following the announcement of an FCC inquiry, the league sent top officials to meet with the agency and present a case for why its broadcast practices are the most fan-friendly among major sports leagues, and why fragmentation would only accelerate should the league’s antitrust exemption be taken away.
The NFL, perhaps wisely, likely believes that there is limited upside to appearing at a public hearing, but immense downside to doing so. The league is probably right. Congressional hearings are usually platforms for elected officials to grandstand and can often stray incredibly far from the stated intention of the hearing. From the league’s perspective, there’s little reason to engage in a venue that would likely be filled with bad-faith lines of questioning from politicians looking to score soundbites.
Instead, the NFL will continue to work its Washington strategy in silence, which has been very effective in the past.