So here's what happened:
NBC signed a deal with the NBA that was worth $2.5 billion a year for 11 years.
The NFL saw this and were like, ***?: NBC currently pays $2 billion a year for NFL Sunday Night Football rights.
The NFL was like: We can't be worth less than the NBA!!!
In their broadcast deals, the NFL has an opt-out clause that would allow their media contracts to expire early, in the next few years.
So because of the NBA deal, the NFL has been looking to renegotiate its contracts to extract more money from the networks.
First up is CBS, which currently pays $2.1 billion a year. The NFL wants CBS to pay $3 billion a year.
The NFL gets $10.1 billion a year from its current media rights deals. They want to increase that to $15.9 billion a year.
The NFL is the biggest, most profitable programming for broadcast networks, because viewers are actually sitting down and watching the ads during games -- unlike with a lot of shows that are DVR'd or streamed later.
The problem is for media organizations like Fox and CBS and Disney, the price increase will result in investing in fewer TV shows and movies.
Basically, the NFL's greed is helping destroy Hollywood.
(Disney pays $2.7 billion a year for Monday Night Football, by the way. So each game is like $120 milion just for the broadcast rights.)
So what are the broadcasters doing?
Well, Fox (Rupert Murdoch) and CBS (Larry Ellison) are friends with the Republicans. And the Republicans are in power.
The NFL currently has an antitrust exemption that allows it to share revenue thanks to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.
The Trump White House, via the FCC and the Justice Department, has begun to show their support for CBS and Fox by threatening the NFL.
As ProFootballTalk explains:
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/the-nfls-broadcast-antitrust-exemption-remains-under-attack
Anyways, it's pretty interesting stuff.
NBC signed a deal with the NBA that was worth $2.5 billion a year for 11 years.
The NFL saw this and were like, ***?: NBC currently pays $2 billion a year for NFL Sunday Night Football rights.
The NFL was like: We can't be worth less than the NBA!!!
In their broadcast deals, the NFL has an opt-out clause that would allow their media contracts to expire early, in the next few years.
So because of the NBA deal, the NFL has been looking to renegotiate its contracts to extract more money from the networks.
First up is CBS, which currently pays $2.1 billion a year. The NFL wants CBS to pay $3 billion a year.
The NFL gets $10.1 billion a year from its current media rights deals. They want to increase that to $15.9 billion a year.
The NFL is the biggest, most profitable programming for broadcast networks, because viewers are actually sitting down and watching the ads during games -- unlike with a lot of shows that are DVR'd or streamed later.
The problem is for media organizations like Fox and CBS and Disney, the price increase will result in investing in fewer TV shows and movies.
Basically, the NFL's greed is helping destroy Hollywood.
(Disney pays $2.7 billion a year for Monday Night Football, by the way. So each game is like $120 milion just for the broadcast rights.)
So what are the broadcasters doing?
Well, Fox (Rupert Murdoch) and CBS (Larry Ellison) are friends with the Republicans. And the Republicans are in power.
The NFL currently has an antitrust exemption that allows it to share revenue thanks to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.
The Trump White House, via the FCC and the Justice Department, has begun to show their support for CBS and Fox by threatening the NFL.
As ProFootballTalk explains:
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/the-nfls-broadcast-antitrust-exemption-remains-under-attack
Quote:
If the exemption were to evaporate, the NFL would be required to market TV rights on a team-by-team basis. That would result in widely varying deals, with the Cowboys getting the most and teams like the Jaguars and Cardinals getting the least. It becomes much harder to justify sharing the revenue (doing so could possibly be an antitrust violation), and it would make a league-wide salary cap (and floor) impossible to operate.
With all teams selling their own rights and not sharing the revenue, the cap (and floor) would reduce if not devour the profit margin for the teams having less valuable TV rights. Ultimately, the NFL could fracture into two leagues, with the really popular teams in one and the less popular teams in another.
For now, it's impossible to know whether and to what extent Congress and/or the FCC will successfully end the exemption. The mere fact that the issue is being discussed is reason enough for the NFL to feel anxious about where it could go from here.
Anyways, it's pretty interesting stuff.
FCC chair Brendan Carr warns that the NFL's ongoing pivot to streaming could "collapse" the antitrust exemption. https://t.co/mpToPKZ27L
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 27, 2026
The attack on the NFL's antitrust exemption has intensified; via @WSJ, the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the NFL. https://t.co/CkxiIAebRU
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 9, 2026
Government officials have raised questions about whether the league is engaging in anticompetitive tactics that harm consumers. https://t.co/syeHvu6VKZ
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 9, 2026
As the NFL tries to get more money from broadcast networks, a major publication owned by Fox owner Rupert Murdoch takes aim at the NFL's broadcast antitrust exemption. https://t.co/zaccVgzMjk
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 3, 2026
