The House Judiciary Committee’s interim staff report disputes the NFL’s claim that 87 percent of games are available on free TV, arguing the league’s figures don’t match what fans can actually access. The report arrives ahead of Wednesday’s hearing on the Spor
For years, the NFL has leaned on one simple message: “87 percent” of its games are available on free television.
Now the House Judiciary Committee is hammering back.
Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing on the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. the Committee’s interim staff report disputes the league’s math and. more importantly. what fans can realistically watch without paying. The report takes direct aim at the NFL’s explanation for how it counts “primary distribution” on broadcast TV—contending that the headline number hides the gap between a game existing somewhere on broadcast channels and a household being able to actually receive it.
In the report. the Committee cites the NFL’s position that “100 percent of its ‘local market games’ (i.e. when a fan lives in the same area as the team) are available free. over-the-air on broadcast television and 87 percent of games have ‘primary distribution’ on broadcast television.” The NFL’s framing is spelled out in the report at pages 3 and 4.
The Committee’s interim staff report then argues the NFL’s own analysis shows a different reality. It says the NFL’s analysis indicates the average NFL game appears in only 39 percent of U.S. households. The report adds that. of the NFL’s 256 regular season games in 2016. 113 games were broadcast in less than 20 percent of U.S. households.
The report’s bottom line is blunt: the NFL’s claim that 87 percent of games have “primary distribution” on broadcast television “actually means that 87 percent of games are on a broadcast station somewhere in the country.” It adds that “significantly less than half of the games are actually available to a consumer on broadcast television. depending on the week and geographic area.”.
That’s the tension at the center of the political push: yes, 87 percent of games can be on broadcast television. But, as the report sets out, fans don’t automatically get access to 87 percent of games on free TV.
The report also maps out how the weekly windows break down for viewers trying to watch specific teams—showing why the dispute isn’t just academic. Every week, three Sunday windows are broadcast in markets that have access to CBS and Fox. Sunday Night Football is on NBC. Some of the Monday Night Football games are on ABC. Thursday night games are streamed by Prime Video. ESPN-only Monday night games require the consumer to purchase a package that includes ESPN. Netflix has five games this year.
Sunday Ticket. the report notes. is the product many fans associate with watching the team they follow when they don’t live in the team’s local market. It says that more than 70 percent of users buy it for that reason. But the report adds that Sunday Ticket is “deliberately overpriced” to discourage fans from paying for it. pushing them toward in-market offerings on CBS and Fox.
Put together, the report paints a stark viewer math. To see every game played by a favorite team. it says. a fan either has to live in the market (or move there) or purchase ESPN. Prime Video. Netflix. and Sunday Ticket. The report frames that as the issue driving current political pressure against the NFL.
The interim staff report also points to the NFL’s broadcast antitrust exemption. It says the NFL received that exemption at a time when the league was supposedly struggling to make ends meet. The report’s argument then turns to the league’s current financial success. quoting Eddie Murphy’s line—“The ends are meeting like a motherf—ker.”—as a way to underscore the mismatch it believes exists between past justification and present power.
From there, the report pushes lawmakers toward two questions: whether the NFL should be allowed to exceed its broadcast antitrust exemption by selling packages to cable, satellite, or streaming, or whether the entire antitrust exemption should be scrapped.
Whatever the motivation that led these issues onto Capitol Hill—whether through the Department of Justice and/or the FCC as the report suggests—the pressure is now in motion. Where it goes next remains to be seen as the hearing approaches.
Either way, with political control across multiple branches of government held by a party with a well-earned reputation for protecting business interests, the report’s warning is clear: more actions like this could follow. Wednesday’s hearing is set to be the next flashpoint.
NFL House Judiciary Committee Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 87 percent free TV broadcast television antitrust exemption Sunday Ticket Prime Video ESPN Netflix CBS Fox NBC ABC Department of Justice FCC
87% my butt. I can barely get half the games on regular TV.
So the NFL says 87 percent free TV but the report is saying it depends on households? That’s just shady accounting. If it’s not actually accessible, then stop saying “free.”
Wait, isn’t “primary distribution” just like the main channel? Like if it’s on somewhere, people should be able to watch it. I don’t get why Congress is even involved though, just let people stream it lol.
I hate how they advertise stuff like it’s true for everybody. 39 percent households?? That sounds like those small town people get screwed again. Also 2016 numbers are old but somehow they’re acting like it proves the point now. Feels like a lot of words to say “pay us anyway.”