NFL Pushes Back on Criticism Over TV, Streaming Deals: ‘Model Is Working’

ORLANDO — Even in the face of rising political and regulatory pressure, the NFL plans no material change to its broadcast policies.

Continuing a streak of defiance that’s been evident in recent weeks, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made clear at the conclusion of the league’s spring meeting that it is holding firm on its current media policy. 

An accelerating embrace of streamers, including a newly expanded rights deal with Netflix, has prompted at least four different points of legislative and regulatory pressure on the NFL, including an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. 

The NFL, however, has been insistent that it remains committed to broadcast television, and has continually pointed to its 87% of games that are primarily available on that platform. That percentage increases to 100% in the home markets of the competing teams in each game, and remains in place for the newly released 2026 schedule.

“We’re incredibly proud of our policies and they’ve been incredibly effective,” Goodell said Tuesday. 

To that end, NFL EVP of media distribution Hans Schroeder pointed last week to across-the-board increases in viewership in 2025. 

“When we go back and look at our model, our belief in broadcast and in our model, we’re up 10% [in viewership] across all our packages last year. Every partner was up,” said NFL EVP of media distribution Hans Schroeder in response to a Front Office Sports question. “But then we had our highest number of Sunday Ticket subscriptions ever and we also had our highest viewed year of RedZone ever. All of those data points tell us that, overall, the model is working.”

Despite that, it’s all but certain that debate around this hot-button issue will continue to percolate throughout the upcoming season. That is particularly true since Netflix has increased its NFL presence from one day on the league calendar to a five-month span stretching from Week 1 to Super Bowl week. 

“As the cost of just about everything continues to rise, the NFL is asking Wisconsites to spend their hard-earned money on another streaming service,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) last week in response to news that the Packers will play the Rams on Netflix on Thanksgiving Eve. “Enough is enough. My For the Fans Act would stop this exact scenario.”

More Changes in Las Vegas

The Raiders, meanwhile, gained approval Tuesday for an additional set of equity changes in which minority owner Egon Durban doubled his stake in the team from 11% to 22% as a group of other limited partners to controlling owner Mark Davis have sold their shares.

That transaction adds to a succession plan approved earlier this spring at the NFL’s annual meeting in Phoenix in which Durban, the co-CEO of private equity giant Silver Lake, has a first right of refusal to gain control of the Raiders from Davis when he chooses to exit. 

Along with the latest transaction, several others also became Raiders investors, including Dell Technology founder Michael Dell and TKO Group Holdings leaders Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro. Each of them will hold 5% or less of the team. 

With the latest changes, Davis remains the controlling owner of the Raiders and holds 36% of the team. Terms of the latest transaction were not disclosed, but CNBC previously reported the Durban-led moves value the franchise at $9.9 billion.