How Trump’s Anti-NFL Crusade Could Backfire

Brendan Carr fcc
Long before F.C.C. Chairman Brendan Carr warned that the NFL could “risk losing its antitrust exemptions” by placing too many games behind streaming paywalls, the league was already in court. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Eriq Gardner
April 14, 2026

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When word spread a few days ago that the Justice Department was investigating the NFL, just days after The Wall Street Journal editorial board suggested that the league was exhibiting anticompetitive behavior, plenty of people detected a Murdochian hand—someone prodding the Trump administration behind the scenes. I had a somewhat different reaction: Why was anyone acting like this is new?