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.
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), (R-Ohio).
The ongoing litigation Ullyot was referring to is likely the , which remains in post-trial and appellate proceedings.
All of this is tied to the 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.
“The NFLs 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 , 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 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).
Representative Linda Sánchez (D-CA) excoriated Goodell for the leagues refusal to acknowledge independent medical data. She famously compared the NFLs stance to Big Tobacco executives denying the link between smoking and in the 1990s. Goodell sat in silence as she blasted the leagues “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, “Im not a medical expert.”
In 2022, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing called “Tackling Toxic Workplaces,” investigating decades of rampant , verbal abuse and structural misconduct within the Washington Commanders organization under former owner Dan Snyder.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
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
