GREEN BAY (WLUK) — A Wisconsin congressman is leading the charge to revamp the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, however the Green Bay Packers insist doing so would “threaten the team.”
As FOX 11 first reported just a few months in the past, the Packers have been lobbying in opposition to adjustments to the SBA, warning of penalties if the legislation is modified and saying this is able to considerably influence Green Bay’s skill to compete with the opposite 31 groups within the NFL.
The SBA permits skilled sports activities leagues just like the NFL to negotiate broadcast offers collectively. Right now, each franchise shares nationwide income from sources like broadcast offers. In fiscal yr 2025, that quantity was $432 million for every group. Prior to the SBA, groups bought the media rights to their video games individually. Without this legislation, Green Bay could be up in opposition to the likes of New York and Los Angeles to strike TV offers.
The House Judiciary Committee has spent months discussing whether or not up to date legal guidelines are wanted to regulate how skilled sports activities negotiate their TV offers within the fashionable period. A assessment of the SBA by the HJC’s Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust may deliver modifications. Wisconsin Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Fifth District, serves as chairman of that committee. A 27-page HJC report claimed the NFL hasn’t been following the legislation’s antitrust exemption whereas inflating costs for shoppers.
In April, Fitzgerald posted on X, saying the investigation is “to know whether the major sports leagues were distorting what broadcasting may be permissible under its antitrust exemption.” He added, “Wisconsin sports fans should have access to their teams’ games without having to pay for multiple cable and streaming packages.”
The Packers mentioned the SBA, in its present kind, gives much-needed stability and viability for small-market sports activities groups and maintains any main adjustments may have devastating impacts on its long-term future.
In an announcement Tuesday to FOX 11, a Packers spokesperson mentioned:
Packers followers all over the place must be deeply involved that Rep. Fitzgerald admitted to giving “zero” consideration to maintaining the Packers in Green Bay as he explores upending the 65-year-old Sports Broadcasting Act. Fans must be offended that Fitzgerald then went additional, saying our considerations had been “laughable.” What is laughable is {that a} congressman from Wisconsin is leading this charge. Why threaten the group his neighborhood overwhelmingly cherishes and its skill to compete on a degree taking part in area?
The tremendously profitable mannequin of pooling media rights and sharing income equally amongst groups has allowed the Packers to survive and thrive within the smallest media market in skilled sports activities. This mannequin is as foundational to the Packers’ existence because the very bricks in Lambeau Field. It is careless and unwise to rearrange the bricks of a basis which has stood robust for over half a century.
Not solely do the Packers function within the smallest market in all {of professional} sports activities, however Green Bay additionally would not have a deep-pocketed proprietor to fund the group, nor can they promote a proportion of the group to personal fairness buyers, like the opposite 31 NFL groups can. Therefore, the Packers rely closely on the league-wide TV offers for equal shares of nationwide income.