NFL won't overdo it with streaming; its antitrust exemption relies on that

Saturday night's game between the Dolphins and Chiefs will become the first NFL playoff game to be available only via streaming, except in the home markets of the two teams. Many object to the development because they fear that more and more playoff games will land on streaming — including (eventually) the Super Bowl.

While it's impossible to know what the NFL eventually will do, at some point the NFL will jeopardize its broadcast antitrust exemption if it puts too many playoff games on pay-only platforms.

Already, New York congressman Pat Ryan has suggested that House of Representatives explore the law that allows the league's teams to sell their TV rights collectively, based on the decision to stream a playoff game.

The NFL's push to streaming began in 2022, when the NFL moved Thursday Night Football from free on Fox to prime on Amazon. There wasn't much of an outcry over that. But this is a playoff game; for many, it represents the first step in something that could expand to more postseason contests.

That's up to the league. But the league should tread lightly. Without the broadcast antitrust exemption, the NFL would face significant liability if it forces networks that would prefer to purchase the right to televise only Cowboys home games to also take home games from all teams. Eventually, every team would do its own deal. And it would become very hard to hold the league together if one team is making $1 billion per year and another team is making $50 million per year.

That's why the NFL has always made cable-only games on TNT or ESPN available via over-the-air TV in the local markets, for more than 30 years. Taking games away from three-letter networks in local markets would imperil the antitrust exemption.

The NFL surely knows the stakes for taking streaming too far. Personally, I doubt it will expand beyond wild-card weekend. If/when it does, there will be more voices calling for the league to lose the legal exception that has helped fuel the goose that has been laying golden eggs for more than 60 years.

So, basically, there's currently no reason to think one wild-card game on a streaming platform eventually will result in the Super Bowl on a streaming platform.

Here's where I say that PFT's content is exclusively licensed to NBC (PFT remains independently owned), PFT Live is televised by Peacock, and yours truly works for NBC's Football Night in America. And here's where I say that for a limited time you can get Peacock for $29.99 for one full year. That's $2.50 a month.

Or give it a try for one month at $5.99. There's a ton of great content. Just today, for example, a new series debuted based on the Ted movies.

The Office is on Peacock. Plenty of Universal movies end up on Peacock not long after the start of their theatrical run. Plenty of live sports are on Peacock.

So give Peacock a try. Enjoy the Dolphins-Chiefs game. And please realize that, before the NFL would ever shift the Super Bowl to a streaming service, it would have to be ready to surrender its antitrust exemption. Which it would be crazy to do.