The NFL is in a Massive War

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]The Department of Justice is now investigating the NFL. At the end of the day, the way they structured the league, it's all different businesses. They're all independent businesses that work together under a trade association known as the National Football League. That's how this all got started. The ability to sell the rights. I need you to think about something real quick. You sit down on your couch, you grab the remote, and you just want to watch some football.

[00:00:23]That's it. That's all you want. But before you can see a single snap, you need to figure out which of your 10 streaming subscriptions actually has the game. Is it on Peacock? Is it on Prime Video? Is it on Netflix, YouTube? Is it on CBS but also streaming on Paramount Plus? And if it's Monday Night Football, is it on ABC or just ESPN? And do you even have ESPN anymore now that it has its own app? Or are they currently in a beef with YouTube TV? If you want to watch every single NFL game next season, you're looking at 10 different platforms and close to $1,000 a year, $1,000 bucks. You need YouTube TV for Sunday ticket, which alone is almost $400. Then you need Amazon Prime for Thursday Night Football and the Black Friday game. You need Peacock for Sunday Night Football.

[00:01:08]You need Netflix for the Christmas games. You need ESPN's new standalone app for Monday Night Football. You need NFL Plus for the international games on NFL Network. And that's before CBS, NBC, and Fox even enter the picture on Sundays. Last season, it cost existing Sunday ticket subscribers nearly $780 total to stream every single game. This year, it's projected to push past a thousand. In the 1990s, you needed basic cable and a TV. Now, you practically need a spreadsheet and a second job.

[00:01:38]Now, I know what you guys might be thinking. You might be thinking that the NFL is just being greedy. And honestly, originally, I was thinking the same thing. But what I found when I started digging into this story is way worse than just greed. Because the NFL isn't just charging you anymore. The NFL is being set up. And the people that are setting the NFL up aren't even in football. Now, before we get into what's going on and why, I need to give you context on why this is happening.

[00:02:04]Because most people saw the headlines and moved on. But there are layers to this thing that almost nobody is talking about. And by the end of this video, you're going to be looking at this situation completely differently. And just so you know, this goes so high up to the top that it involves a dinner at the White House that can make or break the way we watch NFL games. Before we get to the content, I just wanted to thank you guys. Our brand new channel is at 85,000 subscribers. I am so excited to bring you some deep dives on some new content that doesn't really pertain to sports. A lot of you guys have just appreciated the way we do storytelling on this YouTube channel. I am happy to expand to a new lane. And I want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for supporting us on our brand new channel, Flight Mic TV. I'm going to leave a link to it in the description down below and in the pin comment in the comment section. And now that we got all that out of the way, let's get to today's video.

[00:02:55]On April 9th, 2026, the DOJ opened an antirust investigation into the National Football League. And when I say antirust investigation, I know that sounds like a bunch of legal boring stuff, but let me put it in simpler terms for you. The federal government has been asking one question. Has the NFL been screwing over its own fans by putting up way too many payw walls for fans to enjoy their product. The DOJ is expected to issue what they call civil investigation demands to the NFL, to the TV networks, and to local broadcasters. That's a fancy way of saying that the NFL is about to make some very powerful people hand over a ton of documents. Now, this is a huge deal because the NFL has never faced something like this before. The league's media rights currently bring in over $10 billion a year. That's not team revenue. That's not ticket sales or jerseys. That's just from TV and streaming deals alone. That's a $111 billion structure, the biggest media rights package in the history of sports.

[00:03:53]And it's all built on top of something called the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. And yes, this goes back all the way to 1961. This law was written during the Kennedy administration when there were only three TV networks and everyone watched the same thing. What the law does is give the NFL a special antirust exemption, which basically means the league is allowed to sell all of its TV rights as one big package instead of team by team. Without this law, the NFL's entire business model falls apart.

[00:04:22]It's the most important law in professional sports that nobody's ever heard of. But here's the catch. The law specifically covers something called sponsored telecasting, which means free over the broadcast television. Courts have consistently ruled that this exemption does not cover cable, satellite, or streaming. So, when the NFL sells exclusive Thursday night games to Amazon for a billion dollars a year or puts Christmas games on Netflix or locks playoff games behind Peacock, it's technically operating in a gray area that a 65year-old law never anticipated.

[00:04:54]And it makes sense. This law came into effect when there were only three networks. They could have never seen into the future and assumed that there were going to be all of these streaming services. This is before the internet even existed, man. So, the DOJ says that they're investigating. Congress is piling on. Senator Mike Lee, who chairs the Senate Antirust Subcommittee, is publicly calling out the NFL and saying the modern distribution environment differs substantially from the conditions that created this exemption in the first place. Even Democrats are getting involved with Senator Tammy Baldwin planning legislation to decrease TV costs for sports fans. So, this looks like a bipartisan effort to protect the little guy, right? The government is finally stepping in to fight for the fans. Yeah, that's what it looks like.

[00:05:37]But I hate to break it to you guys, that's not what this is. It's not even close to what this is. In February of 2026, a 94 year old man sat down for a dinner at the White House with the president of the United States. That man was Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox Corporation, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and one of the most powerful media figures on the planet. And according to a bombshell report from the Wall Street Journal itself, which by the way, Rupert Murdoch owns, this wasn't just a casual meal. During that dinner, Murdoch and the top executives warned Donald Trump that if the NFL continued selling more games to streaming companies like Amazon and Netflix, it would, and I'm paraphrasing here, kill all of the broadcast networks. Now, let me show you what happened next because the timeline is wild. February, Murdoch has dinner with Trump. Weeks later, the FCC, led by Chairman Brandon Carr, opens an inquiry into the shift of live sports from broadcast to streaming. Then Senator Mike Lee writes his letter urging the DOJ and the FTC to examine the NFL. Then Fox Corporation files an official public comment with the FCC arguing that paywalling sports threatens broadcast TV. And then on April 9th, the DOJ formally opens the antirust investigation. Every single one of those dominoes fell after that dinner. Every single one. And here's the part that makes this even crazier. According to multiple reports, at the same exact time Murdoch was lobbying Trump to go after the NFL, Trump was actively suing Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal over their reporting on a Jeffrey Epstein birthday message that allegedly had Trump's name on it. So, these two guys are literally in court against each other on one thing and making backroom deals on the other. You can't make this stuff up. And I want to be clear about something. The Wall Street Journal, Murdoch's own paper, reported on this story. They also ran an editorial attacking the NFL's antirust exemption while Fox Corp was simultaneously bidding on a new NFL streaming package.

[00:07:30]Even the people profiting off of the current system can't keep a straight face about it. And then this past weekend, Trump himself went on TV and started talking about it. During an interview with Cheryl Atkinson on a show called Full Measure, he was asked whether the NFL is price gouging fans.

[00:07:45]And instead of answering the question directly, he went on a tangent about the kickoff rule. He called it stupid and unwatchable.

[00:07:51]>> I mean, they have that stupid kickoff thing that you can't watch. It's unwatchable. I hate the games where they >> and then said fans are paying $1,000 a game to watch football. Not $1,000 a season, but $1,000 a game.

[00:08:03]>> Have to pay $1,000 a game.

[00:08:05]>> For the record, nobody is paying $1,000 for one game. Senator Mike Lee's research shows it's about $1,000 for the whole season across every platform. But Trump heard $1,000 and just kind of ran with it. There's something very sad when they take football away from many, many people >> and warned the NFL that they might be killing the golden goose >> and they could be killing the golden goose.

[00:08:28]>> That interview went massively viral and it tells you everything that you need to know about how this is being framed for the public. This is being framed as a consumer protection issue. But guys, that's a gigantic smokec screen. So now the obvious question, why is a 94 yearear-old billionaire pulling strings at the White House over football games?

[00:08:45]And the answer is simple. Fox is losing right now. Fox pays the NFL $2.25 billion a year for the rights to Sunday afternoon games. That deal runs through 2033. But there's a critical detail most people don't know about. There's an opt out clause in 2029. That means in just 3 years, the NFL has the right to pull those games away from Fox and put them on the open market. And this is where it gets scary for Fox because Fox Corporation has a market cap of about $25 billion. That sounds like a lot until you look at who else wants these NFL games. Comcast, which owns NBC, is worth 92 billion. Disney, which owns ESPN and ABC, is worth 188 billion.

[00:09:25]Netflix is worth 370 billion. Amazon is worth 2.93 trillion. And Google, which owns YouTube, is worth 4.83 trillion. Fox isn't just the smallest company at the table. Fox is a rounding error compared to these companies. If the NFL puts those Sunday afternoon games up for bid in 2029, Fox literally cannot afford to compete. The NFL knows this and the NFL has been pushing its current broadcast partners to renegotiate their deals early and pay significantly more. They saw how the NBA got massive new TV deals and basically told Fox, CBS, NBC, and everyone else, "Pay up now or we'll take our ball and go to the highest bidder in 2029." The NFL was reportedly willing to give Fox guaranteed rights through the mid 2030s if Fox agreed to pay more starting immediately. But Fox refused to pay more unless the deal extended beyond 2033. And the NFL reportedly wasn't interested in that. So Murdoch did what Murdoch does. He went to the one person who might be able to change the game.

[00:10:24]And suddenly the entire federal government is investigating the NFL. Not because fans filed a complaint, not because Congress independently discovered a problem, but because a billionaire who can't keep up at the negotiating table just picked up the phone. Now, here's the thing about the NFL, guys. This is the most aggressive and powerful league on the planet. They have never ever lost a negotiation. When ESPN fell out of the league's good graces years ago and was getting terrible Monday Night Football schedules, ESPN spent tens of millions rebuilding the relationship and hired Joe Buck and Troy Aman. And now the NFL literally owns a piece of ESPN. That's how this league operates. You don't come at the NFL, the NFL comes at you.

[00:11:09]According to ESPN's reporting, people inside the league described the reaction to the DOJ investigation as surprised.

[00:11:16]But there was already a growing belief internally that Fox was behind the whole thing. One source told ESPN that the NFL's general counsel gave an update on the situation at league meetings in Phoenix and he didn't seem that concerned about this situation. And then Roger Goodell went public during the NFL draft in late April. He went on ESPN and made his case. It's the most accessible game out there and most accessible in any league. Over 87% of our games are on free television. Listen, we we go to platforms that are new. We went to ESPN back in the 80s. That has been a great move for our fans and develop new ways to engage with the NFL.

[00:11:54]>> But Goodell didn't just fight this in the press. Behind the scenes, the NFL went straight to the White House.

[00:11:59]According to reports, Goodell reached out to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wilds in April to express his concerns about the investigation. And here's the detail that seems almost too perfect, guys. Susie Wilds is the daughter of Pat Summerall, the legendary NFL broadcaster, meaning the descendant of the voice of football, is now the person caught in the middle of a war between the NFL and the federal government.

[00:12:24]Meanwhile, Robert Craft, the Patriots owner and a longtime Donald Trump ally, has also reportedly been in touch with the White House about the situation. But here's what makes this whole thing incredible. While the government is investigating the NFL for putting too many games on streaming, the NFL is putting even more games on streaming.

[00:12:42]Right now, as we speak, Netflix is reportedly closing in on a deal for up to five NFL games this coming season.

[00:12:48]That includes the season opener from Australia, a brand new Thanksgiving Eve game, the two Christmas Day games they already had, and a Saturday game in week 18. YouTube is in the mix, too. The NFL is literally expanding its streaming footprint in the middle of an investigation about its streaming footprint. That's not the behavior of a league that's scared. That's the behavior of a league that knows this investigation isn't going to go anywhere. And this is where we get to the part that nobody's really talking about. Because there's a very real scenario here where Rupert Murdoch's power play doesn't just fail, it completely backfires. Think about what just happened with the NBA. Guys, if you didn't know, I cover basketball on a separate channel called the Flight Mic.

[00:13:28]Let me give you a brief summary. For decades, TNT had NBA games. Inside the NBA with Shaq and Charles Barkley was appointment television. The Warner Brothers Discovery CEO started publicly talking about how expensive NBA rights were getting and how his company didn't need the NBA anymore. You know what the NBA commissioner did? Adam Silver took up the Warner Brothers CEO on this. The NBA walked away from TNT and signed with NBC, Amazon, and ESPN instead. Warner Brothers tried to sue to save the deal.

[00:13:57]It didn't work. Decades of partnership over because one media executive pushed too hard. And here's where the irony gets thick. Fox only became a legitimate network in the first place because of the NFL. Back in the early 1990s, Fox was a baby network. Barely anyone took it seriously. Then they won NFL rights away from CBS and it changed everything.

[00:14:17]The NFL made Fox. It built the foundation for the entire Murdoch sports empire. And now Murdoch is using federal agencies to threaten the very league that made him relevant in the first place. If you're Roger Goodell, you have to be looking at this and thinking, >> "This is how you repay us?"

[00:14:34]>> Now, look at what Rupert Murdoch is doing. He's not just publicly fighting the NFL over money. He's using the federal government as a weapon in a business negotiation. He's getting the DOJ, the FCC, and members of Congress to do his bidding in what is essentially a contract dispute over TV rights. If you're Roger Goodell, how do you feel about that? If you're the NFL, do you reward that behavior with a new deal, or do you do what Adam Silver did and tell Fox to find somebody else? The 2029 opt out is 3 years away. By then, there could be a completely different administration in Washington that has zero interest in protecting Rupert Murdoch. Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube will only be bigger and richer, and there will be a line of trillion dollar companies fighting for the chance to air the most valuable content in television.

[00:15:19]And you know what? The Wall Street Journal itself reported that the DOJ investigation is unlikely to result in any legal action against the Leagues.

[00:15:27]Murdoch's own paper is admitting that this probably isn't going to go anywhere. The investigation isn't about actually changing the law. It's about applying enough political pressure to slow down the NFL's negotiations and save Fox billions of dollars in the short term. That's it. That's the whole play. I really like the analogy that this one writer at Awful Announcing made. This is the highest stakes poker game in the history of televised sports.

[00:15:51]Murdoch, Goodell, and the president of the United States are all sitting at the table. And right now, Fox has the smallest stack of chips. And when you have the smallest stack, sometimes you bluff. But when the other guy calls your bluff, you lose everything.

[00:16:05]So, let's go back to where this all started. Because at the end of the day, here's what's actually going on. You're paying close to $1,000 a year to watch football. And yeah, that's a problem.

[00:16:14]But the government investigation that's supposed to fix it, it wasn't started because anyone in Washington cares about your cable bill. It was started because a 94year-old billionaire had dinner with the president of the United States and asked him to protect a media empire that can't afford to compete anymore. The NFL isn't the victim here in the grand scheme of things. They built this streaming model. They chose to spread games across 10 platforms. They're the ones who took something your grandparents watched for free on a Sunday afternoon and turned it into a subscription economy. But in this specific situation, the NFL is being set up. They're being investigated not because they broke the law, but because one of their business partners decided to use the federal government as leverage in a contract negotiation. And the fans who are genuinely frustrated about the cost of watching football.

[00:16:59]Their frustration is being weaponized by a billionaire who doesn't care about their cable bill. He cares about his own. The thing to watch now is what happens with the schedule released this Thursday. The NFL is reportedly adding slightly more games to broadcast television in the 2026 schedule specifically to blunt this criticism.

[00:17:17]That tells you the pressure is having some effect. But the bigger battle, the one over the 2029 opt out over the future of every media rights deal in football, that fight is just getting started. And that's the one that's going to determine whether you're paying $1,000 or $2,000 to watch football in 5 years. And the wildest part of all is it might not even matter because the NFL is still the most powerful force in American entertainment. Over 90 of the top 100 TV broadcasts last year were NFL games. The Super Bowl between the Patriots and Seahawks averaged over 125 million viewers. Viewership went up 10% last season. Everybody wants a piece of the NFL. And when everybody wants what you have, you don't negotiate from fear, you negotiate from power. Let me know what you guys think about this in the comments section down below. Aside from that, I'm your boy Mike and I'm dropping our mic. Until our next upload.