WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, suggested Tuesday that Congress could help American sports fans weary of trying to catch their favorite teams on an increasingly complex array of apps, broadcast platforms and streaming services.
Fans get understandably upset navigating today’s fractured landscape of sports broadcast deals, Cruz said.
“It shouldn’t be insanely complicated or insanely expensive to cheer on your hometown team,” said Cruz, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which has jurisdiction over sports and telecommunications.
Cruz held a hearing Tuesday titled “Field of Streams: The New Channel Guide for Sports Fans” in what he described as a fact-finding mission to improve the sports viewing experience.
At the intersection of big league sports and federal authorities is the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which gave leagues antitrust immunity to negotiate nationwide broadcast rights.
Executives from Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League appeared Tuesday before the committee, while the National Football League declined an invitation to testify.
Cruz said observers once wondered if NFL fans would abandon the league as it moved some games from free TV to cable, but the move instead helped boost the league’s popularity.
The ongoing shift to streaming services could prove a similar boon and offer new benefits to fans, Cruz said, but the move presents challenges as well.
“If fans want to spend their hard-earned money on sports streaming, I don’t blame them,” Cruz said. “I’ve shelled out a hell of a lot of money to see the Houston Rockets and the Astros and the Texans and I intend to continue doing so.”
He said the special antitrust exemption and other support enjoyed by major sports leagues raise questions about obligations they owe the public and pressed the executives to explain what consumers are getting in return for the public support.
The executives painted a picture of an evolving situation in which the leagues are continually working to adapt to changes in technology and consumer preferences.
The federal antitrust exemption provides an opportunity to use economies of scale, they said, to craft deals that will benefit fans over time and give them more access than ever to games along with new tech-enabled bells and whistles.
They highlighted the struggles of regional sports networks as more viewers “cut the cord” of cable television subscriptions and turn to streaming options.
Dallas area teams, including the Mavericks and Stars, have introduced new streaming options.
The Rangers launched Rangers Sports Network this year after the parent company of Bally Sports Southwest filed for Chapter 11.
RSN functions as a production company and a channel on systems that carry it, such as DirectTV. It produces games streamed on the Victory+ app and will broadcast 15 games this year over the air in a partnership with local stations.
Kenny Gersh, Major League Baseball’s executive vice president of media and business development, acknowledged the decline of affordable access to regional sports networks through pay TV.
“Looking to the future, as existing contracts expire, we intend to partner with entities that will make our games available to the broadest possible audience and to eliminate territorial restrictions to make our games available to any fan that wants to watch them regardless of location,” Gersh said.
John Bergmayer, legal director at the advocacy group Public Knowledge, testified during the hearing that it’s reasonable to require teams to make their games widely accessible in exchange for the public benefits they receive.
Bergmayer said that could include pushing leagues to ensure games are available in local markets free of charge, supported by advertising, as they have been for decades.
“Taking care of the local fans in local markets is where I would have my first priority,” Bergmayer said.
Cruz told reporters after the hearing the idea of pushing for free, advertising supported local broadcasts was “worth considering and discussing.”
Cruz said the best legislative avenue for addressing the situation isn’t clear, but acknowledged a number of bills that have been introduced aimed at helping fans frustrated by local blackouts and other challenges.
“There’s considerable interest on the part of fans and considerable interest on the part of members of the committee to examine ways we can expand access to watching sports,” Cruz said.
Cruz said lawmakers are close to a bipartisan deal on another sports-related issue, addressing the chaotic situation in college sports that has followed a 2021 Supreme Court decision allowing college players to profit from their own name, image and likeness.
“It is an issue that impacts Americans across the country and the current system is broken,” Cruz said.
Several committee members used Tuesday’s hearing as an opportunity to show off their sports loyalties, name checking teams in their states.
Cruz ruefully alluded to the Houston Rockets being knocked out of the NBA playoffs by the Golden State Warriors and their superstar point guard Stephen Curry.
“If the NBA could somehow reduce Steph Curry’s shooting percentage, that would really help for my Rockets, who went through a very painful series,” Cruz said. “And I’d also like to check to see if Mr. Curry is in fact a space alien.”
Staff Writer Evan Grant contributed to this report.
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