YouTube, Netflix, Fox are in play for special five-game 2026 package

[mike_usagisan]

You can't screw over the public and then turn around and receive special favors from the federal government.

I work in DC and you pretty much described exactly how it works.

 

[Grogan14]

If the NFL plays the "we have the right to sell our product however we want" card then they are no longer deserving of the special exemption they receive from federal antitrust law.

You can't screw over the public and then turn around and receive special favors from the federal government.

Yes! Revoke the anti trust exemption!
Greed will kill the golden goose.
You want to have more streaming games
Say goodbye to the draft!
How much is enough for these greedy bastards

 

[XLIX]

Yes! Revoke the anti trust exemption!
Greed will kill the golden goose.
You want to have more streaming games
Say goodbye to the draft!
How much is enough for these greedy bastards

Revoking the antitrust exemption wouldn’t impact the draft since the draft is a product of the CBA.

 

[Grogan14]

From ai

If the NFL’s antitrust exemption were revoked, the league’s entire business model would be shaken — especially media rights, revenue sharing, and the salary cap. The exemption (from the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961) is what allows the NFL to sell all teams’ TV rights as a single package. Removing it would force a radically different system.

Below is a clear breakdown of what would happen, grounded in current reporting.

---

1. Teams would have to sell TV/streaming rights individually

Without the exemption, the NFL could no longer bundle all games into league‑wide packages. Each team would negotiate its own deals with networks or streamers.

• High‑value teams (Cowboys, Chiefs, Eagles, Steelers) would command massive contracts.
• Low‑market teams (Jaguars, Cardinals) would earn far less.
NBC Sports


This would destroy the current competitive balance created by equal revenue sharing.

---

2. Revenue sharing would collapse

Because teams would earn vastly different media revenues, the league could no longer justify sharing those revenues equally — and doing so might itself violate antitrust law.
NBC Sports

This would create a Premier‑League‑style financial hierarchy, with rich teams getting richer.

---

3. The salary cap could not legally exist

The salary cap is only legal because it is collectively bargained and tied to shared revenue.
If teams no longer share revenue, the cap becomes impossible to maintain.

• Wealthy teams could spend dramatically more.
• Small‑market teams would struggle to compete.
NBC Sports +1


This is arguably the single biggest structural threat to the NFL.

---

️ 4. The league could fracture into two tiers

NBC Sports reporting suggests the NFL could split into:

• A “super league” of high‑value franchises
• A lower‑tier league of financially weaker teams
NBC Sports


This is the nightmare scenario for the NFL.

---

5. Streamers and networks would face chaos

If the NFL cannot sell bundled rights:

• Streamers (Amazon, Netflix, YouTube) would have to negotiate team‑by‑team.
• Some could face litigation for past bundled‑rights deals.
NBC Sports


Fans would see even more fragmentation — possibly needing separate subscriptions for different teams.

---

‍ 6. Ongoing DOJ and FCC scrutiny shows this is not hypothetical

The DOJ is already investigating whether the NFL’s current streaming-heavy model harms consumers.
ESPN +1

Lawmakers from both parties have signaled willingness to revisit the exemption.

---

Bottom line

Revoking the NFL’s antitrust exemption would trigger **massive structural upheaval

 

[FortressX]

Over the weekend, we reported that the candidates for a five-game 2026 package of standalone games included Netflix, YouTube, and Fox. The apparent winner is YouTube.

YouTube, NFL move toward deal for five 2026 games

League plans to take a package of standalone games to streaming, despite ongoing antitrust scrutiny.

www.nbcsports.com

 

[Grogan14]

Bottom line is that threatening to remove the anti trust exemption or doing it is a HUGE hammer to get the NFL to do what the DOJ wants them to do.

DOJ should threaten with revocation unless the NFL puts a strict cap on:

1) number of games broadcast on premium streaming channels
2) number of games held outside North America


THe NFL New Yorkers and NFLPA's greed knows no bounds...need to put limits on them so fans to not get abused.
Just like happened to Live Nation and Ticket Master

Jury finds that Ticketmaster and Live Nation had an anticompetitive monopoly over big concert venues

A jury has found the concert giant had a harmful monopoly over big concert venues, dealing the company a loss over claims brought by dozens of U.S. states.

www.cnbc.com

 

[mgteich]

Bottom line is that threatening to remove the anti trust exemption or doing it is a HUGE hammer to get the NFL to do what the DOJ wants them to do.

DOJ should threaten with revocation unless the NFL puts a strict cap on:

1) number of games broadcast on premium streaming channels
2) number of games held outside North America


THe NFL New Yorkers and NFLPA's greed knows no bounds...need to put limits on them so fans to not get abused.
Just like happened to Live Nation and Ticket Master

Jury finds that Ticketmaster and Live Nation had an anticompetitive monopoly over big concert venues

A jury has found the concert giant had a harmful monopoly over big concert venues, dealing the company a loss over claims brought by dozens of U.S. states.

www.cnbc.com

Of course this limit should include cable companies as well as streaming channels.

such nonsense.

1) How many fans watch only free games now (no streaming, no cable)?

2) How many patriot games did these fans miss last year?
======================
BTW, all the big money comes from contracts with the major networks. Stop watching and the number of games available can go down, apparently your wish,

 

[Grogan14]

Of course this limit should include cable companies as well as streaming channels.

such nonsense.

1) How many fans watch only free games now (no streaming, no cable)?

2) How many patriot games did these fans miss last year?

It's Not nonsense. A cap will prevent the NFL from expanding this pay per view BS to unmanageable levels over the next decades.

You can not just let the NFL trample on fans and citizens rights to not be gouged.

Yes its only a few games now but if you think the NFL isn't heading toward majority of games being pay per view...you are delusional.

 

[XLIX]

BTW, all the big money comes from contracts with the major networks. Stop watching and the number of games available can go down, apparently your wish,

Amazon pays $1 billion per year for one game per week. That’s pretty big money.

And unless something is done, the shift to streaming is only going to grow and grow.

 

[XLIX]

Yes its only a few games now but if you think the NFL isn't heading toward majority of games being pay per view...you are delusional.

Agreed 100%.

It baffles me how willing and eager some people are to be the metaphorical frogs in the slowly-boiling water.

 

[mgteich]

Bottom line is that threatening to remove the anti trust exemption or doing it is a HUGE hammer to get the NFL to do what the DOJ wants them to do.

DOJ should threaten with revocation unless the NFL puts a strict cap on:

1) number of games broadcast on premium streaming channels
2) number of games held outside North America


THe NFL New Yorkers and NFLPA's greed knows no bounds...need to put limits on them so fans to not get abused.
Just like happened to Live Nation and Ticket Master

Jury finds that Ticketmaster and Live Nation had an anticompetitive monopoly over big concert venues

A jury has found the concert giant had a harmful monopoly over big concert venues, dealing the company a loss over claims brought by dozens of U.S. states.

www.cnbc.com

Why whine about games outside of the US. The patriots play 1 more game a year, soon to be 2. How many have been available on local channels?

Compare 2020 and the proposed 18 game schedule. Will you really have fewer games for free?
=============
Perhaps, the NFL could require that their out-of-country be available to local audiences on one of the broadcast channels, ditto for the extra holiday games. But reducing the number of games available is NOT a good deal for anyone.

 

[mgteich]

PROPOSAL
All NFL games should be available in the team's local market for free.
=========
We would continue to have more and more games available. However, all our team's game would be available for free. We would continue to have more and more games available from all sources.

The purists would be upset. They greatly prefer adjusting rabbit ears to watch the 12 games available each Sunday. For them, the game was so much stronger then, before cable, the internet, VPN's and streaming. They prefer a much smaller number of stronger teams.
===========
MY PERSONAL STRONG PREFERENCE
The union should do more to protect its members. There needs to be lots, lots more practice session allowed in camp. 18 games is necessary, but so is the increase in practice time. Teams should be able to choose whether they want pre-season scrimmages and how many to have..

 

[jmt57]

PROPOSAL
All NFL games should be available in the team's local market for free.
=========
We would continue to have more and more games available. However, all our team's game would be available for free. We would continue to have more and more games available from all sources.

The purists would be upset. They greatly prefer adjusting rabbit ears to watch the 12 games available each Sunday. For them, the game was so much stronger then, before cable, the internet, VPN's and streaming. They prefer a much smaller number of stronger teams.
===========
MY PERSONAL STRONG PREFERENCE
The union should do more to protect its members. There needs to be lots, lots more practice session allowed in camp. 18 games is necessary, but so is the increase in practice time. Teams should be able to choose whether they want pre-season scrimmages and how many to have..

The NFL considers a local market to be a 75-mile radius from a team's stadium. That means, for example, that Springfield, Hartford, and any stations in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont are considered to be 'secondary markets' rather than a 'local market'.

I like your idea - but I would go one step further from your proposal, and include all areas in both the primary and secondary markets. For the Patriots, that means all of New England up to the point past Hartford where it becomes NYG/NYJ territory in Connecticut.

In other words, everybody - nobody where they lived in the US - would have access to free telecasts to all of at least one team (and free access to two teams for fans in NY/northern NJ, LA, and northern California).

 

[Hugepatsfan]

The government won’t step in and stop landlords from pricing people out of housing, grocery stores from price gouging people for food, healthcare companies from making it more economical to die than to be treated in a lot of cases… and some of you think they’re going to step in and make it so the people can watch football without paying 15 bucks a month for Netflix or whatever it is now? Y’all can’t be serious with this. If the government is stepping in for anything on this I promise you it won’t be to make it free for y’all to watch football.

 

[XLIX]

The government won’t step in and stop landlords from pricing people out of housing, grocery stores from price gouging people for food, healthcare companies from making it more economical to die than to be treated in a lot of cases… and some of you think they’re going to step in and make it so the people can watch football without paying 15 bucks a month for Netflix or whatever it is now? Y’all can’t be serious with this. If the government is stepping in for anything on this I promise you it won’t be to make it free for y’all to watch football.

The government already has stepped in. Unfortunately that was 65 years ago and times have changed. There is nothing unrealistic about them updating a 65 year piece of legislation. All your off topic comparisons have nothing to do with the subject at hand.

 

[FortressX]

YouTube could be shut out of NFL games for 2026

Just when YouTube thought it was in, they pulled it back out.

www.nbcsports.com

 

[WhatJustHappened]

Awesome, pulling out always worked well for me.

 

[UrbanCowboy]

If the NFL plays the "we have the right to sell our product however we want" card then they are no longer deserving of the special exemption they receive from federal antitrust law.

You can't screw over the public and then turn around and receive special favors from the federal government.

Well, good sir, I submit you haven't been paying attention.

 

[grux]

The fans have to fight back with their wallets. The NFL is a business and they will keep pushing the limits to what a customer will pay to watch their games. The owners need a certain amount of money to pay their top 10 qb 55 million a year. Personally I have regular cable, prime and netflix. Cost me about $120.00 a month. If a game isn't on one of those services I just don't watch.

 

[PancakeBlockPaul]

The fans have to fight back with their wallets. The NFL is a business and they will keep pushing the limits to what a customer will pay to watch their games. The owners need a certain amount of money to pay their top 10 qb 55 million a year. Personally I have regular cable, prime and netflix. Cost me about $120.00 a month. If a game isn't on one of those services I just don't watch.

I would love to see people rebelling like this and showing a noticable discontent with how things are and how the streaming co's were allowed to do this at who's expense? But alas, people do not tend to even show up much less care when there are other things worthy of a deeper/more poignant disusssion are brought up. And I'm right at the same dollar point and level of watching as you. =)