The National Football League defended its television distribution strategy in a meeting with Federal Communications Commission officials last week, as regulators examine the ongoing shift of live sports from free over-the-air broadcast networks to paid subscription streaming services.
The NFL met with senior FCC staff on last Friday. Documents detailing the meeting, dated Tuesday and released publicly on Wednesday, show the league presented a 17-page slide deck emphasizing that more than 87% of its games remain available on free broadcast television. Additionally, 100% of games in the local markets of the competing teams air on local over-the-air TV. The NFL stated this broadcast percentage has remained relatively stable for two decades.
"This distribution model is good for our fans, for local television broadcasters, for our 32 clubs in small and large markets alike, and for the competitiveness of the game itself," the NFL told the FCC. The league highlighted that 86 of the top 100 TV programs in 2025 were NFL games and that it strategically selects matchups each week to deliver the most compelling games to individual broadcast markets. It also noted that Sunday Night Football on NBC has been the No. 1 primetime program for 15 consecutive years.
Major broadcast station owners, including Fox Corp. and Sinclair, urged the FCC last month to address Big Tech companies acquiring rights to football, baseball, and other sports, warning it could weaken local TV news operations. A coalition of more than 700 affiliate stations for CBS, NBC, Fox, and ABC last week called on the FCC to act to keep high-profile sports on free over-the-air television, stating that "sporting events can’t unify Americans if the cost of watching them turns us into a nation of haves and have-nots."
The National Association of Broadcasters argued that global streaming giants such as Amazon Prime, YouTube (Alphabet), Apple, and Netflix can treat live sports as loss leaders to attract subscribers.
A 1961 federal law grants major sports leagues an antitrust exemption, allowing them to pool teams’ television rights and sell them collectively as a package.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has publicly questioned whether heavy reliance on streaming could jeopardize this protection. The NFL maintains its model remains the most fan- and broadcaster-friendly in sports, with local simulcasts ensuring accessibility even for nationally streamed games. The meeting and filings represent the league’s proactive response to the FCC’s broader inquiry into sports broadcasting practices and their impact on consumers and local stations.