Two top NFL executives addressed broadcasters’ complaints that too many games are shifting to streaming, calling the objections “odd” and defending their media rights setup as “the most fan-friendly model there is.”
Chief Operating Officer Hans Schroeder and EVP Jeff Miller offered their takes during a media conference call Friday whose primary focus was the release of the 2026-27 schedule. They were asked about criticism from the likes of Fox Corp. and the National Association of Broadcasters about the Sports Broadcasting Act. The 1961 law exempted the NFL from antitrust scrutiny, but critics say it should be re-examined in light of Netflix, Amazon and YouTube getting more games in a landscape far more complex than the three-network era.
The FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice have also launched probes of the league’s dealings with broadcasters. In a filing with the FCC on the matter, the NAB wrote that “global streaming behemoths are increasingly locking live sports behind paywalls, creating a costly and confusing viewing experience for fans.”
Earlier this month, President Trump also expressed support for that gripe during an interview on Full Measure with Sharon Atkisson, a public-affairs show airing on Sinclair Broadcast Group TV stations. “You’ve got people that love football,” he said. “They’re great people. They don’t make enough money to go and pay this. It’s tough.”
Earlier this week, Netflix announced an expansion of its deal with the NFL that gives it rights to three additional games during the 2026-27 season to go with its Christmas Day doubleheader. Amazon is broadening its Prime Video schedule beyond Thursday Night Football, and NBCUniversal streamer Peacock has also carried exclusive games.
“We love our model,” Schroeder said. “We think we have the most fan-friendly model there is of any sport or entertainment as far as distribution. One hundred percent of our games are on over-the-air in the home markets, 87% are distributed primarily through broadcast. And we think that’s the place to be. … We also know fans are increasingly spending their time on other platforms as well. They tune into broadcasts for the NFL, and that’s where we want to be, but we also want to be on these platforms.”
Miller said the league had tracked comments by the FCC and broadcasters, and was made aware of testimony in Washington, D.C., and the increasingly vocal population raising questions.
“That’s a little bit odd given the relationship that we’ve had with the broadcasters and the fact that we continue to keep all of our games on broadcast television,” Miller said. “Heck, they inducted the NFL into the NAB Hall of Fame a couple of years ago. So, one would have thought that that relationship was good.”
He went on to cast doubt on the reassessment of the Sports Broadcasting Act. “I don’t know what revisiting the SBA does for broadcasters,” he said. “If I were a local broadcaster, I would ask the NAB how that benefits me, because certainly we’re committed to being on broadcast television in ways that other content is not and continue to be in the hopes of reaching our fans.
“We’ve made that point to the FCC. Hans led a group – I was included – where we presented our media strategies and how broadcast television is a cornerstone of that a couple of weeks ago. … If broadcasters are questioning the merits of that, I’m not really sure where that’s coming from.”
Asked earlier this week about the state of play with the NFL, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said there is “no tension” with the league as he sees it. Along with the heat it is feeling over the role of streaming services, the league is also looking to extract billion of dollars more from existing rights partners as part of a renegotiation of existing deals running through 2033. The revisiting of those deals has been triggered by a “change of control” clause related to CBS parent company Paramount merging last year with Skydance.
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