NFL, Netflix Near Deal For Australia Game Amid Antitrust Scrutiny
The NFL is close to a deal for Netflix to exclusively stream the Sept. 10, 2026 regular-season game between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
League sources say the agreement is not yet finalized but is the likely outcome. The Australia game would be added to Netflix's existing 2024-2026 Christmas Day package. The NFL is also exploring a Thanksgiving Eve streaming game and plans to move several Monday Night Football windows once held by ESPN to YouTube.
The episode traces back to a June 2024 federal jury ruling that found the NFL violated antitrust law by overcharging for its Sunday Ticket package and ordered $4.7 billion in damages. That verdict, plus the May 2024 three-year Christmas Day deal with Netflix, accelerated the league's push into streaming. The NFL announced Melbourne as the Australia host in February 2025 and named the 49ers as the Rams' opponent in February 2026. Tensions rose in April 2026 when the Department of Justice opened an antitrust investigation and FCC officials warned about the anticompetitive risks of exclusive digital deals. The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 continues to give the league a limited antitrust exemption as of 2026.
Observers on social media flagged the move as a potential flashpoint for regulators and reported that Netflix and YouTube are likely to split games returned by ESPN, including a five-game package from late-week windows. Fans already face a fragmented 2026 rights landscape and must subscribe to roughly 10 different services to see every regular-season game, costing about $700 to $1,200 a year.
The mainstream summary largely overlooks the implications of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which provides the NFL with a limited antitrust exemption. This exemption was originally intended to ensure games were widely available on free television, yet the NFL's shift to exclusive streaming deals raises questions about whether these arrangements violate the spirit of that law. Legal scholar Stephen James argues that the current model exploits this outdated exemption, leading to increased costs and limited access for fans, a perspective not captured in the mainstream account.
Additionally, while the mainstream coverage hints at the rising costs for fans, it fails to detail that watching every regular-season game in 2026 could require subscriptions to approximately 10 different services, costing between $700 to $1,200 annually. This fragmentation of access, as noted by Matthew Mitten, highlights a growing economic inequality in access to NFL games, a significant concern that the mainstream summary does not address. Such insights suggest that the NFL's streaming strategy may not only face regulatory scrutiny but also contribute to a widening gap in access to cultural goods among fans.
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📊 Relevant Data
The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 provides the NFL with a limited antitrust exemption that allows its teams to pool and collectively sell national television broadcast rights to networks, originally intended to promote competitive balance and ensure games are widely available on free over-the-air television.
Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 — Wikipedia
To watch every regular-season NFL game in 2026, fans must subscribe to approximately 10 different services including broadcast networks, cable, and streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Peacock, and YouTube TV, with total annual costs ranging from $700 to $1,200.
2026 NFL season streaming costs, subscriptions revealed — Yahoo Sports
📌 Key Facts
- On Sept. 10, 2026, the San Francisco 49ers are slated to play the Los Angeles Rams at Melbourne Cricket Ground in the first NFL game in Australia.
- The NFL and Netflix are negotiating a deal for Netflix to exclusively stream that 49ers-Rams game; a league source says the agreement is not yet finalized but is the likely outcome.
- The game would be additional to Netflix's existing 2024-2026 Christmas Day NFL package, and the league is exploring a new Thanksgiving Eve streaming game and moving some former ESPN Monday night games to YouTube.
📰 Source Timeline (1)
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