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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, invited earlier this week to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in a hearing that will examine whether the Sports Broadcasting Act has been used “to harm consumers,” is declining the invitation.
And that’s probably a wise choice by the commissioner given his past history testifying before Congress.
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Goodell declined the invitation to appear at the June 10 hearing “due to ongoing litigation related to the topic of the hearing,” NFL general counsel Ted Ullyot wrote in a letter Wednesday to Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)Jim Jordan, (R-Ohio).
The ongoing litigation Ullyot was referring to is likely the NFL’s Sunday Ticket antitrust case, which remains in post-trial and appellate proceedings.
All of this is tied to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 that provides limited antitrust exemption for the collective sale of over-the-air broadcast rights. The SBA does not clearly protect cable, satellite, streaming or subscription products, the rising cost of which has incited consumer complaints and government scrutiny.
According to the Associated Press, Ullyot repeated in his letter the well-chronicled NFL narrative that 87 percent of its games will be available over the air this season, and that every game in the competing teams’ home markets is on broadcast television.
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“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.
The NFL’s stated reasoning for not putting Goodell in front of Congress is legitimate but league counsel almost surely took Goodell’s past performances before lawmakers into account. The NFL has declined to comment on Goodell’s decision despite multiple requests by OutKick and Fox News.
And how has Goodell fared before Congress in the past? “Debacle,” was the word one congressional source used to describe it.
That’s obviously someone’s opinion that is up for debate, but it is fair to say that when Goodell has appeared on Capitol Hill, it has not been a smooth ride. His appearances have historically served as platforms where lawmakers aggressively targeted the league’s multi-billion-dollar business models, safety protocols and accountability.
Goodell has testified before Congress on two previous occasions: in October 2009 on the league’s concussion crisis of that time, and in June 2022 on the Washington Commanders workplace investigation.
In 2009, the House Judiciary Committee called a hearing titled “Legal Issues Relating to Football Head Injuries” following independent research and media reports linking repeated football head trauma to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
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Representative Linda Sánchez (D-CA) excoriated Goodell for the league’s refusal to acknowledge independent medical data. She famously compared the NFL’s stance to Big Tobacco executives denying the link between smoking and lung cancer in the 1990s. Goodell sat in silence as she blasted the league’s “blanket denial.”
Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) pressed Goodell with a simple question: “Does a medical link exist between playing football and long-term brain damage?”
Goodell refused to say “yes.” Instead, he deflected by saying, “I’m not a medical expert.”
In 2022, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing called “Tackling Toxic Workplaces,” investigating decades of rampant sexual harassment, verbal abuse and structural misconduct within the Washington Commanders organization under former owner Dan Snyder.
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Goodell testified via Zoom but the virtual format didn’t shield him.
Lawmakers hammered Goodell over the NFL’s refusal to release a report authored by attorney Beth Wilkinson’s independent investigation into the Commanders. Members of Congress and former employees pointed out the NFL released a 200-plus-page public report when investigating whether Tom Brady deflated footballs, but chose to keep the findings of a 20-year sexual harassment culture secret, delivering only an “oral report” to Goodell.
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Goodell’s defense — that they withheld the written report to protect the privacy of the victims — was dismissed by some committee members as a hollow excuse to protect Snyder.
Goodell tried to paint the NFL as both powerless and an ally that had successfully “held Snyder accountable,” which obviously didn’t fly.
He pointed out the league levied a $10 million fine and forced Snyder to cede day-to-day operations but also repeated, “I don’t have the authority to remove [Snyder],” which frustrated was panned by the lawmakers.
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