In the wake of ESPN agreeing to high-profile deals involving the NFL and MLB, prominent U.S. Senate and House Democrats are expressing their concerns.<\/p>\n
In a letter obtained by Front Office Sports\u2019 Ryan Glasspiegel<\/a>, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and U.S. House members Pat Ryan and Joaquin Castro \u2014 all of whom are Democrats \u2014 weighed in on the pending transactions to leadership at Disney, ESPN, the NFL and MLB. The letter comes weeks after ESPN and the NFL reached a deal in which the league will take a 10 percent stake in the network<\/a>, which also recently agreed in principle to license the MLB.TV streaming service<\/a>.<\/p>\n In their letter, the Congressional members shared their belief that such deals could be considered anticompetitive. Specifically, they refer to the practice of leagues taking an ownership stake in the network as a \u201cblueprint for future consolidation and consumer harm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe agreements between ESPN, the NFL, and Major League Baseball (MLB) that have recently become public raise serious concerns and could entrench ESPN\u2019s dominance over competitors in sports distribution,\u201d the letter<\/a> reads. \u201cAs prices rise across the board, including for cable and satellite TV and streaming services, sports fans should not be forced to pay more or jump through more hoops to watch their favorite team. We are concerned that these new deals could hurt consumers by disadvantaging competitors, limiting choices, raising prices for viewers, and creating potential conflicts of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter also raises concerns about how such deals could impact ESPN\u2019s coverage of the leagues they\u2019re in business with, which has been a hot topic around the NFL agreement. Both the network<\/a> and the league<\/a> have publicly insisted that the deal won\u2019t impact how ESPN covers the NFL.<\/p>\n Additionally, the Democrats state that the NFL owning an equity stake in ESPN could harm other broadcasters by creating \u201can incentive to grant ESPN anticompetitive preferential treatment over other distribution partners.\u201d It also argues that could potentially impact consumers by \u201cresulting in higher prices and fewer choices for viewers if disadvantaged competitors subsequently fail.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the MLB aspect of the letter, the Congressional members argue that the agreement \u201ccould make it more difficult and more expensive for current cable or other linear MLB.TV subscribers to watch games.\u201d Among 12 questions laid out in the letter, the lawmakers ask whether MLB.TV will remain available as a standalone product or if it will require a subscription to ESPN.<\/p>\n