NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell declines to testify – Business News
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is not going to testify earlier than Congress subsequent week concerning the league’s broadcast offers and its latest apply of airing video games on paywalled streaming providers.
Goodell declined an invitation to seem at a House Judiciary Committee listening to on June 10 “due to ongoing litigation related to the topic of the hearing,” the league’s normal counsel, Ted Ullyot, wrote in a letter Wednesday to the committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
Jordan is one of a number of elected officers who’ve raised considerations concerning the costs followers have to pay to watch NFL video games and whether or not the league’s streaming offers adjust to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which granted the league a restricted antitrust exemption.
Commissioner Roger Goodell declined an invitation to seem at a House Judiciary Committee listening to on June 10 “due to ongoing litigation related to the topic of the hearing,” the league’s normal counsel stated. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
The law applies solely to broadcast networks. Courts have ruled prior to now that it doesn’t apply to different media, together with cable, satellite tv for pc and streaming. There has been bipartisan sentiment in favor of updating the law.
This spring, the Justice Department started investigating the NFL for potential anticompetitive practices associated to its broadcast offers.
In his letter to Jordan, Ullyot stated 87% of the league’s video games can be obtainable over the air this season, and that each sport within the competing groups’ home markets is on broadcast tv. He stated the elevated quantity of video games on streaming providers has corresponded with a slight drop in video games proven on cable.
This spring, the Justice Department started investigating the NFL for potential anticompetitive practices associated to its broadcast offers. AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann
“The NFL’s decision to license a few more games to widely adopted streaming services is simply a reflection that those platforms now offer significantly more reach than the current pay TV ecosystem and that broadcast television remains the foundation of our media distribution,” Ullyot wrote.
A spokeswoman for Jordan didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The league additionally despatched a letter to Jordan signed by 21 members of Congress urging warning with any adjustments to the broadcasting law. Ullyot’s letter stated the SBA helps keep aggressive steadiness as a result of it helps “broad media distribution, substantial revenue sharing among the clubs, and a collectively bargained salary cap.”
Lawmakers have raised considerations concerning the costs followers have to pay to watch NFL video games and whether or not the league’s streaming offers adjust to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which granted the league a restricted antitrust exemption. AP
“If the league were not to handle media distribution as it has since the passage of the SBA,” the letter stated, “the result would be to harm NFL fans through increased cost and confusion and the undermining of the competitive balance that makes NFL games so exciting.”
