Scathing House Judiciary Committee report accuses NFL of stretching law's limited antitrust exemption

The Justice Department is probing the NFL's exclusive streaming deals amidst fan frustration over fragmented and paid access. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr questions if the league should retain its special antitrust exemption, initially established by the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act. Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley suggests Congress examine the NFL's monopoly structure, highlighting their $25 billion annual revenue and rising fan costs.

A scathing report released on Monday by the House Judiciary Committee and its chairman Jim Jordan, takes the NFL to task, arguing that America's most popular sports league has ignored the narrow guardrails of the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act and its antitrust exemption while on a journey to becoming a lucrative sports empire.

All while limiting consumer choices and inflating prices for viewing games.

The report, obtained by Fox News, includes the central argument on pages 8–9 that Congress created the Sports Broadcasting Act (SBA) to keep games widely available on free television and help a struggling league survive.

But what has happened since 1961, lawmakers argue, is that the antitrust exemption created to lift the NFL instead created one of the most powerful sports media businesses in the world that stretched the narrow boundaries of the exemption.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member, attend a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 22, 2026. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg)

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You know the report wasn't going to be friendly to the NFL by simply reading the title.

The Sports Broadcasting Act: A special-interest