President Donald Trump criticized the NFL\u2019s media deal in an interview on \u201cFull Measure\u201d on Sunday, saying that the cost of watching the league could \u201cruin the game.\u201d Trump\u2019s comments come a month after reports surfaced\u00a0that the Justice Department opened an investigation into the NFL over whether the league is engaging in anticompetitive tactics and overcharging customers.<\/p>\n
Last year, NFL games were split between traditional networks and deals with streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, which has spurred criticism from fans over the challenge and cost of navigating so many platforms. In September, The Athletic calculated<\/a> that watching major NFL games last season would cost more than $600.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got people that love football, they\u2019re great people, they don\u2019t make enough money to go and pay this, it\u2019s tough,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n Asked whether the government will step in, Trump said, \u201cI don\u2019t know, but I don\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re making a lot of money, they could make a little bit less and they could let the people see,\u201d Trump continued.<\/p>\n After The Wall Street Journal first reported<\/a> news of the DOJ investigation in April, the league defended its media agreements<\/a> in a statement, highlighting that 87 percent of its games were broadcast on network television. Commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated the league\u2019s position<\/a> when asked about the DOJ investigation during an interview with ESPN before the NFL Draft in late April.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the most accessible game out there, and most accessible in any league,\u201d Goodell said. \u201cOver 87 percent of our games go on free television, every single one of our games, the two participating teams, it\u2019s in their home market.<\/p>\n \u201cWe go to platforms that are new. We went to ESPN back in the 80s. That has been a great move for our fans and has developed new ways to engage with the NFL, but we\u2019ve been surviving and thriving on the basis of being available to the broadest audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Other politicians are also trying to take action on a scattered and costly sports TV landscape. In March, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, submitted a letter requesting that the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission review antitrust exceptions given to the NFL. In April, Sen. Tammy Baldwin said she plans to introduce legislation<\/a> aimed at decreasing TV costs and blackouts for sports fans.<\/p>\n The Athletic has reached out to the DOJ and NFL for comment and will update this story if either responds.<\/p>\n In Sunday\u2019s interview with \u201cFull Measure,\u201d Trump also continued his criticism of the NFL\u2019s new kickoff rule, added in 2024, which altered the kickoff formation as part of a safety effort aimed at reducing the risk for high-speed collisions.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have that stupid kickoff thing that you can\u2019t watch, it\u2019s unwatchable,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI hate the games where they, you know, they have the new phony kickoff, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s any safer, I hope college football doesn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n An Athletic player poll<\/a> published in January found that 72.7 percent of players surveyed said they liked the new rules, and NFL data<\/a> from the 2024 season found that the new rules decreased player speeds and lowered concussion rates compared to 2021-23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump criticized the NFL\u2019s media deal in an interview on \u201cFull Measure\u201d on Sunday, saying that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-662519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}