Rusty Weiss
The NFL just got absolutely routed in Washington, and Commissioner Roger Goodell wasn’t even there to take the hits.
Goodell’s No-Show Turns Hearing Into a One-Sided Roast
The House Judiciary Subcommittee held a hearing on the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act — the old law that gives the NFL and other leagues an antitrust exemption so they can pool their TV rights and get more games on free television.
Some suspect they aren’t exactly using it for those purposes.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle ripped into the league for shifting so many games behind expensive streaming paywalls, making it confusing and costly for regular fans to watch their teams. Without Goodell or any NFL executive there to push back, it turned into a pretty one-sided roast.
Goodell declined the invitation, with the league citing “ongoing litigation” around Sunday Ticket as the reason. That decision left the league with zero voice in the room while critics unloaded.
Clay Travis Goes Scorched Earth on Fan Gouging
OutKick founder and Fox News contributor Clay Travis went scorched earth in his testimony. He spoke straight to the frustration so many fans feel.
“Every single day, sports fans are getting gouged now for the opportunity of watching their favorite teams. Fans now pay far more money every year for something that, by law in 1961, you all guaranteed for them should be free,” Travis said.
ALERT: 'OutKick' founder and Fox News contributor Clay Travis torches the NFL for gouging their fans while violating the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.
— E X X ➠A L E R T S (@ExxAlerts) June 10, 2026
"Most of your constituents are frustrated. They don't know how to find games, and they are having to pay far too much when… pic.twitter.com/Nw2ZpCwTDf
He pointed out that following one team can easily run fans $575 to nearly $800 a season once you add up all the different services — Sunday Ticket, Amazon Prime for Thursday Night Football, Peacock, ESPN+, YouTube TV, and the list goes on.
Travis called it “unlawful pay-per-view,” which runs counter to the whole point of the 1961 law.
“Most of your constituents are frustrated. They don’t know how to find games, and they are having to pay far too much when they have the opportunity to actually watch those games,” he continued.
“You guys have an important responsibility and an opportunity to apply the law fairly, freely, and help fans everywhere across the entire nation pay less and get more.”
One example that really landed was the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium situation. Taxpayers in western New York helped fund the billion-dollar venue, yet fans in nearby cities like Rochester and Syracuse still need an Amazon Prime subscription to watch certain games that are supposedly local. Travis and other witnesses, including the head of the National Association of Broadcasters, hammered home that this kind of fragmentation hurts everyday fans and small businesses, even as the league rakes in record cash from streaming deals.
Republicans on the committee focused on how the leagues have abused the antitrust exemption, while Democrats highlighted real-world pain points such as streaming delays and rising costs. Committee members showed NFL marketing materials that seemed to contradict the league’s claims about the wide availability of games.
By the end of the hearing, the message from Capitol Hill was pretty clear: Lawmakers are paying attention, and they’re not too happy. Whether this will lead to any real changes to the Sports Broadcasting Act is anybody’s guess, but the optics weren’t great for the league.
