President Donald Trump ripped into the National Football League (NFL) amid accusations of “price gouging,” saying they may be “killing the golden goose.”
Speaking with Sharyl Attkisson on Sunday’s “Full Measure,” the president did not hold back on his criticism of the league, even objecting to the “stupid kickoff thing” as his Department of Justice has launched an antitrust investigation of the NFL’s streaming model.
“On some domestic issues, one of them a lot of people are interested in, involving the NFL, your Justice Department is investigating the NFL for moving a lot of viewers from free broadcast television to more expensive pay programming like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Peacock, and YouTube, where the NFL makes more money,” Attkisson said.
“Do you think this is price gouging on America’s favorite sport? Should the government do anything about it?” she asked Trump.
(Video Credit: Full Measure)
“It’s tough. It’s a tough [one]. You’ve got people that love football. They’re great people. They don’t make enough money to go and pay this,” the president replied. “It’s tough, and they could be killing the golden goose.”
“I mean, they have that stupid kickoff thing that you can’t watch. It’s unwatchable. I hate the games where they, you know, they have the new phony kickoff. I don’t think it’s any safer. I hope college football doesn’t do that. You know what I’m talking about?” Trump asked the host, who admitted she doesn’t watch much football.
“You are not a football fan,” Trump said. “These people know what I’m talking about. They ruin the game. But they have to be careful because others have tried this, and all of a sudden, you don’t have a sport anymore, probably will.”
“The government will step in and do something?” Attkisson asked.
“There’s something very sad when they take football away from many, many people. Very sad. I don’t like it,” the president said.
“I don’t like it. They’re making a lot of money. They could make a little bit less. They could let the people see,” Trump continued blasting the league. “You have people that live for Sunday… They can’t think about anything else, and then all of a sudden they’re going to have to pay a thousand dollars a game. It’s crazy. I’m not happy about it.”
The DOJ’s probe of the NFL is “about affordability for consumers and creating an even playing field for providers,” according to a “government official” cited in an NBC News report.
“The Justice Department investigation is into antitrust and anticompetitive tactics, the person said. It comes after Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, wrote a letter last month requesting a review of the NFL’s streaming platform exemptions and wanted to know whether the streaming package fees violated the Sports Broadcasting Act,” the outlet noted.
The NFL has pushed back on the criticisms.
“The NFL’s media distribution model is the most fan and broadcaster-friendly in the entire sports and entertainment industry,” the spokesperson said. “The NFL has for decades put our fans front and center in how we distribute our content.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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