The NFL faces increased federal scrutiny as more games shift to streaming

The NFL is facing increased scrutiny from the federal government over the league's moves to put more games on streaming services.

The Justice Department is investigating the NFL for potential anticompetitive practices. A government official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the investigation is “about affordability for consumers and creating an even playing field for providers.”

The investigation comes as the Federal Communications Commission is seeking public comment on the ongoing shift of live sports from broadcast channels to streaming services. As of Friday, over 8,000 comments have been logged.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr used an illustration of a fan watching a Green Bay Packers game when he announced the public comment period on Feb. 25.

The NFL is not alone in creating packages for streamers. Its standing as the most popular league and the revenue it receives from media rights, however, put it front and center in a changing landscape.

Being the most popular sports league in America can come at a cost, especially when some of the most-viewed games of the season moved from network television to streamers. The “Thursday Night Football” package moved from Fox to Amazon Prime Video in 2022, followed by a wild-card playoff game in 2023 and Christmas Day games in 2024.

The wild-card and Christmas games were on either CBS or Fox before moving to streamers. The league also began airing a game on Amazon on Black Friday in 2023.

The NFL averages $400 million a year from Netflix and Amazon Prime for those four games. The league is also considering a game the night before Thanksgiving, which could bring in at least $50 million if bids are accepted.

If the league eventually goes to an 18-game regular-season schedule, it could increase the number of international games to 16, leading to its own package. There are eight international contests this season, with the broadcasters yet to be determined.

Games aired last season on CBS, NBC/Peacock, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+, Fox, NFL Network, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube TV.

The league averages nearly $11 billion in revenue per season from its media deals. That could increase since the sale of Paramount to Skydance Media allows the league to renegotiate its deal with CBS.

The rights deals go through 2033 with most outlets and 2034 with ESPN. The league has an opt-out clause after the 2029 season, which it is likely to exercise since 83 of the top 100 broadcasts last year were NFL games, according to Nielsen.

Besides “Sunday Ticket,” the league’s out-of-market Sunday afternoon slate of games, airing on YouTube TV, CBS (Paramount +), NBC (Peacock), Fox (Fox One) and ESPN have their own streaming services.

Yes. A federal jury in Los Angeles ruled in 2024 that the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service and awarded $4.7 billion in damages.

A federal judge overturned the verdict in the class-action lawsuit after ruling that the testimony of two witnesses for the subscribers had flawed methodologies.

The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the “Sunday Ticket″ package on DirecTV from the 2011 through 2022 seasons.

Passed by Congress in 1961, it grants professional sports leagues limited antitrust immunity, allowing them to pool their media rights and negotiate as a single entity while protecting them from antitrust lawsuits. Congress passed it after a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that the NFL’s sale of its rights to CBS violated antitrust laws.

The act applies only to broadcast networks. Courts have ruled in the past that it does not apply to other media, including cable, satellite and streaming. There has been bipartisan sentiment in favor of updating the law.

The law includes a rule allowing blackouts of local games. The NFL ended local TV blackouts after the 2014 season. They had applied to games within 75 miles of a team’s market if they did not sell out 72 hours before kickoff.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee wrote a letter to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission last month urging them to review whether the NFL’s distribution methods comply with the Sports Broadcasting Act.

The audience for the Thursday night and wild-card games this past season was greater on streaming than it was on broadcast TV three years ago. That does come with the caveat that Nielsen began using its Big Data + Panel methodology for all events last September with the start of the current television season. Last year, Nielsen began measuring out-of-home viewers in all states except Hawaii and Alaska, and included data from smart TVs, cable, and satellite set-top boxes. Nielsen previously measured only the top 44 media markets, which covered 65% of the country.

The NFL has said that over 87% of its games are available on broadcast television, including all those played in a team’s local market.

The NFL and YouTube TV could offer weekly or team-only packages, as other leagues do with their streaming packages, but has not done so.

Last year, the House Judiciary Committee requested briefings from the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB on whether antitrust exemptions should still be granted to leagues for coordinating their broadcast television rights.

The NBA, NHL and MLB are also dealing with their own challenges with the demise of regional sports networks, notably the loss of local rights fees. Main Street Sports, which operates 15 regional channels under the FanDuel Sports Network brand, will go out of business at the conclusion of the NBA and NHL seasons, affecting 13 NBA and seven NHL franchises.

MLB is handling production and distribution for 15 of its 30 teams this season after Main Street Sports Group failed to make scheduled rights payments to seven teams.

Milwaukee Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio said last month that the switch from a regional sports network to MLB is a $20 million drop in revenue. The number is higher for other teams.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a news conference at the NFL football annual meetings, Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

FILE - A detail view of the NFL shield on a football prior to an NFL football game between the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts on Jan. 4, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Maria Lysaker, File)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mitch Marner isn't about to start bragging, to express any kind of feelings of vindication in proving wrong those who questioned and even doubted whether he could deliver at this time of year.

There has indeed been magic in Marner's play as he leads the Vegas Golden Knights into their Western Conference final series that opens Wednesday night at Colorado.

His 18 points led all NHL skaters through Sunday and includes possibly the goal of the year in Thursday's 5-1 close-out victory at Anaheim.

This production is what his hometown Maple Leafs expected when Toronto drafted him fourth overall in 2015. While Marner became one of the NHL’s top play-making forwards, he took the brunt of criticism for the Leafs failing to advance beyond the second round.

“I don't care what anyone says,” Marner said. “I've been in the league a long time now, so I'll focus on what I can control.”

That includes leading the Golden Knights to the NHL's final four.

“I think the media in Toronto is pretty big and they put a lot of pressure on the players,” Golden Knights wing Ivan Barbashev said. “He's showing completely different things over here. He's been scoring and making a lot of plays, so hopefully he stays the same way.”

Vegas has never been afraid to chase big names and it has a locker room full of such players. Acquiring Marner in a sign-and-trade was the splash deal of last year's offseason, reaching an agreement on an eight-year, $96 million contract.

This postseason is why the Golden Knights pursued him. They followed their 2023 Stanley Cup title team by getting bounced in the first round the following year and the second round last season.

Marner produced two goals and an assist in Game 6 of the opening series to eliminate Utah 5-1. He had a hat trick and an assist to take back home-ice advantage in Game 3 of Round 2 at Anaheim, and ended that series by setting the tone with a goal 1:02 into the Game 6 clincher that few players on the planet could execute.

William Karlsson began by hitting Marner in stride with a perfect stretch pass to spring the breakaway. But with Jackson LaCombe staying with Marner, he fought off the Ducks defenseman, turned his back to the goal and shot the puck between his legs to put Vegas ahead 1-0.

“His IQ is on a different level,” Barbashev said. “He plays defensively and is a 200(-foot) player. He does it all.”

John Tortorella, who became the Golden Knights coach with eight games left in the regular season, sees the same thing about Marner.

“When you're with him every day, you can see his habits," Tortorella said. "You can see the little things he does in the game. Other people see his goals and assists, maybe like the goal he scored the other night. I look at the small things. A lot of people don't realize how the small things turn to bigger things.”

Tortorella, like Bruce Cassidy before him, hasn't been afraid to use Marner in a number of ways, be it at center or wing, the first line or the second.

When the Golden Knights ran a five-forward power play, Marner was the quarterback at the top. Now with defenseman Shea Theodore in that spot with the top unit, the Golden Knights have deployed Marner down lower to better use his ability to score or help someone else find the back of the net.

“There’s even games where the other team carries the game, and they come out on top because of their patience and play-making ability, and Marner has a lot to do with that,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Power play, short-handed, five-on-five, he plays all situations and is dangerous in all of them.”

It's not that Marner didn't play at a high level in Toronto. He scored a career-high 102 points in the 2024-25 season, one of four times he topped 90.

He also produced 13 points in 13 playoff games last year and 14 points in 11 postseason games two years earlier.

But the Maple Leafs as a team didn't play up to expectations, and thus the deal to send Marner to Vegas. Now the Golden Knights are a series away from potentially competing in their third Stanley Cup Final in their nine years in the league, and the Maple Leafs failed to reach the playoffs but won the draft lottery.

Maybe there's another Marner in their future.

“I've always believed I'm a good player," Marner said. “I'm not thinking of anything, just go out there and try to play hockey.”

AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Centennial, Colorado, contributed to this report.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mitch Marner, second from left, celebrates his goal with goaltender Carter Hart during the first period in Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mitch Marner, second from right, celebrates after scoring on Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal, left, during the first period in Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart, left, and right wing Mitch Marner congratulate each other after the Golden Knights defeated the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Friday, May 8, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)