Trump Calls Out NFL for Streaming Costs as DOJ and FCC Investigate Antitrust Concerns

'You've got people that love football, they're great people, they don't make enough money to go and pay this,' Trump said. 'They could make a little bit less and they could let the people see.'

He called the situation 'crazy' and said flatly: 'I'm not happy about it.'

The Athletic calculated in September 2025 that watching all major NFL games in a single season would cost a fan more than $600. Thursday Night Football streams exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, which starts at $14.99 per month. Netflix, YouTube TV, and Peacock each carry additional exclusive packages.

That's four separate subscriptions — on top of cable or antenna — to watch a sport that used to be completely free on broadcast TV.

The Department of Justice opened an antitrust investigation into the NFL in April 2026, first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The core question: is the NFL using its antitrust exemption — granted under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, signed by President John F. Kennedy — to overcharge consumers through a fragmented, pay-walled distribution model?

The FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr launched a separate probe into whether the streaming shift harms American consumers and the broadcast television industry, according to NBC News.

NFL executives didn't wait around. According to an FCC filing published April 22, 2026, the league's top media executive Hans Schroeder met directly with two advisers to Chairman Carr. The NFL brought a 17-page slide presentation arguing its strategy is 'good for fans,' 'good for local broadcasters,' and 'good for the game.'

NFL Head of Public Policy Brendon Plack sent a letter claiming the 2025 season was 'the most viewed since 1989.' Commissioner Roger Goodell backed that up in an ESPN interview before the NFL Draft, saying 87% of games air on free broadcast television.

Most games still air on CBS, NBC, Fox, and ABC. But the games being moved to streaming aren't random filler — they're premium matchups. Thursday Night Football. Christmas Day games. Wild Card playoff games on Peacock. The NFL is keeping the product on free TV just enough to maintain its legal argument while monetizing the best inventory behind paywalls.

The Athletic reported that in March 2026, Senator Mike Lee of Utah — Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights — sent a formal letter requesting the DOJ and FTC review the NFL's antitrust exemption.

Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, separately announced plans in April 2026 to introduce legislation targeting TV costs and blackouts for sports fans.

Republican Senator. Democrat Senator. Republican President. DOJ. FCC. They're all pointing at the same problem.

Mainstream media coverage — particularly from outlets leaning left — has framed this primarily as 'Trump's feud with the NFL,' referencing his years of hostility toward the league going back to the national anthem protests. The Week at least acknowledged the history while noting the DOJ investigation doesn't exist 'in a bubble.' But fixating on the personal drama between Trump and the NFL obscures a legitimate consumer protection and antitrust question that transcends politics.

Right-leaning coverage from the NY Post and Fox News, meanwhile, has played up Trump's quotes without digging into the structural legal question at the heart of the DOJ probe — or the fact that a Democratic senator is pushing parallel legislation.

Even within the NFL itself, there are internal politics at play. According to ESPN as cited by The Week, sources inside the NFL believe the Murdoch family — which owns Fox Corporation — is a 'key driver' behind the DOJ investigation. Fox holds NFL broadcast rights and stands to lose leverage as games migrate to streaming competitors. The probe that looks like a consumer protection crusade may also have a media empire pulling strings behind the curtain.

That doesn't mean the consumer harm isn't real. It is. But the public deserves to know who benefits from this fight.

If you're a working-class football fan, you're already paying the price. The NFL made $12.2 billion in national media rights revenue in the 2023 season alone, according to Sportico. The league is not hurting. It's choosing to extract more money from fans who've supported it for decades by fragmenting a product that used to be universally accessible.

The antitrust exemption the NFL enjoys was created to help the league survive — not to help it build a streaming empire on the backs of fans who can't afford four subscriptions.

If the DOJ investigation results in real enforcement, that could give relief to every person who just wants to watch a Sunday afternoon game without a billing statement.