CNBC Sport: Top sports executives head to Washington over media rights

CNBC

01-05-2025

Every so often, the world of politics collides with the world of sports. One of those moments is on deck next week – Tuesday, May 6 at 10 a.m. ET.
That's when the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will convene a full committee hearing on the future of sports broadcasting. The committee, chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will hear testimony from top executives at three of the biggest U.S. sports leagues — Bill Koenig, the National Basketball Association's President of Global Content and Media Distribution; David Proper, the National Hockey League's Senior Executive Vice President of Media and International Strategy; and Kenny Gersh, Major League Baseball's Executive Vice President of Media and Business Development.
The hearing "will examine the policy questions raised by the changing ways Americans are watching live professional sports on television, particularly how traditional over-the-air broadcasts are increasingly supplemented—or even replaced—by digital platforms, subscription services, and exclusive streaming arrangements," according to a committee press release.
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Many rules surrounding sports broadcasting are arguably woefully antiquated. Live sporting events are often still blacked out in certain regions due to contractual broadcast rights either at the local or national level. This can be infuriating to fans, who can be trapped in areas of the country where they simply can't watch certain games, despite technology allowing easy access to all other entertainment at any time, in any place, on any device.
Streaming services – the clear future of media distribution – have given fans some relief by offering games in certain leagues (such as Major League Soccer) without blackouts. Any subscriber to Apple TV+'s MLS Season Pass gets every game in every market for $14.99 per month. But regional sports networks for MLB, NBA and NHL still own the local rights for most teams, which forces fans to pay for either cable or a litany of streaming services to watch most games.
One issue that's certain to come up at the hearing is the increasing proliferation of these streaming services. As leagues carve up their rights into smaller bundles, the onus falls on consumers to pay for more and more services – Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, WBD's Max and Disney's ESPN all own different packages of MLB games, for example. Senators (the elected U.S. officials, not to be confused with the NHL team from Ottawa) are likely to question league executives on their plans to bundle these streaming services to ensure that costs don't continue to balloon.
"Catching your favorite team on TV shouldn't feel like solving a puzzle," Cruz said in a statement this week. "Games that used to be free or easy to find are now scattered across pricey apps and exclusive deals. This hearing will explore how leagues intend to keep sports accessible and affordable for the fans who make it all possible."
Another issue likely to surface next week: There is some fear that the National Football League, in particular, may be getting too aggressive with its growing streaming strategy to offer games on new nights.
Traditionally, the NFL hasn't broadcast on Friday and Saturday nights. This has protected high school and college football audiences, both in person and on TV.
This isn't an accident. It's actually law.
In 1961, a U.S. District Court ruled the NFL's proposed method of pooling media rights among all the teams as an exclusive contract with broadcaster CBS violated antitrust law. As a settlement, the NFL worked with Congress to pass the Sports Broadcasting Act (yup, that's a real thing), which created an exception to the Sherman Act allowing for sports leagues to make TV deals directly with networks on behalf of all of their teams.
As part of that law, the NFL agreed not to broadcast on Friday and Saturday nights after 6 p.m. from the second Friday in September until the second Saturday in December.
Obviously in 1961, streaming didn't exist. I'm told Congress (and the courts) may consider extending that provision to account for streaming as further protection for high school and college football.
"The way Americans watch live sports, including the NFL, has changed dramatically in recent years," Cruz wrote in an open letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on April 17. "Many sporting events, once broadly available for free or through basic cable packages, are now distributed through subscription services and other fragmented models that have left some fans confused about where and how to watch their favorite teams. These shifts and existing, potentially outdated rules raise questions about accessibility, affordability, market competition, and the long-term implications for fan engagement."
Cruz asked the NFL to testify alongside the other three sports leagues, but the league declined, citing timing conflicts, according to people familiar with the matter. The NFL did offer to send the committee information and communicate outside the hearing. (The NFL has a Washington, D.C., office.)
The league's absence from the hearing – especially when executives from the other three leagues will be there – may make for a prime punching bag opportunity for Cruz and others. There are 15 Republicans and 13 Democrats on the committee.
There's little doubt the NFL has been aggressive in carving out new packages with different streaming services to maximize revenue and potentially groom new media partners to buy the rights to more games down the road. This year, the NFL has three different games on Christmas – two on Netflix and one on Amazon. Christmas falls on a Thursday this year and on Friday next year.
I'm told some members of the committee are fearful the NFL could eventually try to take over more territory by using streaming services as a platform to move games to Fridays and Saturdays earlier in the season if proper protections aren't installed.
I'm told from league sources that this idea has never really come up before internally. So, the whole notion of the NFL moving in on high school and college football may be more grandstanding than anything based in substance. Having watched Senate hearings before, let's just say this wouldn't shock me.
An NFL spokesperson declined to comment.
If you're interested in watching the hearing, the committee will be taking advantage of the wonders of modern technology and streaming it live on its website.
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