· Firestick.io Team · News · 8 min read
Roger Goodell Will Not Testify Before Congress About the NFL's TV Deals
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell declined a congressional subpoena to testify about the league's media-rights deals and paywalled streaming games. Here's what it means for Fire TV viewers.
If you’ve ever scrolled through your Fire TV home screen and wondered why half the NFL games you want to watch are locked behind a different app — or a different subscription — you’re not alone. That frustration is exactly what Congress was trying to drag Roger Goodell to Washington to answer for. He declined.
The NFL Commissioner officially refused to testify at a congressional hearing about the league’s media-rights deals. Goodell cited ongoing litigation tied to the hearing’s subject matter as his reason for not showing up. Lawmakers were not thrilled.
Roger Goodell declined to appear before Congress to answer questions about the NFL’s TV and streaming deals. Lawmakers were scrutinizing how the league distributes its media rights — including games locked behind paywalled streaming services — and the Justice Department is reportedly investigating potential anticompetitive practices. For Fire TV users, this matters because those deals directly control which app you need and what you pay to watch NFL games.
Why Congress Cared — and Why You Should Too
The NFL’s media-rights landscape is, to put it charitably, a mess for anyone trying to watch games on a Fire TV without a cable subscription.
Games are spread across Prime Video, ESPN, ESPN+, NBC, CBS, FOX, NFL Network, and Peacock — each requiring its own app, its own login, and in many cases its own subscription. Some games are only available on a single streaming platform with no free alternative. Lawmakers were specifically scrutinizing this fragmentation and the league’s role in engineering it.
According to reporting from The Desk, Sports Business Journal, and ABC News, the congressional scrutiny centered on how the NFL structures and sells its broadcast rights, and whether locking certain games behind paid streaming walls creates anticompetitive conditions for viewers. The Justice Department has reportedly been looking into similar questions.
Goodell’s refusal to testify — citing active litigation — means those questions are staying unanswered at the congressional level, at least for now.
What the NFL’s Media-Rights Deals Actually Look Like on Your Fire TV
Here’s the practical reality if you want to watch NFL games on your Firestick right now.
Prime Video holds the exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football. If you have Amazon Prime, you already have this — it’s the one NFL deal that actually benefits Fire TV users directly. The app is pre-installed on every Firestick.
ESPN and ESPN+ carry Monday Night Football and various playoff games. The ESPN app is free to download on Fire TV, but full access requires a cable login or a Disney Bundle subscription.
Peacock has carried exclusive Sunday Night playoff games. It requires a Peacock subscription.
NFL Network and NFL RedZone are available through certain live TV packages, but NFL Network’s standalone streaming has been inconsistently available — another point of congressional interest.
The fragmentation isn’t accidental. It’s the direct result of the rights deals that Goodell wouldn’t testify about.
The Anticompetitive Angle — Plain English Version
The DOJ’s reported interest in the NFL’s deals comes down to a specific concern: when a single sports league controls how its content is distributed across competing streaming platforms, and does so in a way that forces consumers to subscribe to multiple services to watch a full season, that might run afoul of antitrust law.
Think of it this way. If the NFL negotiated in a way that intentionally spread games across as many platforms as possible — not because it served fans, but because it maximized rights fees from competing bidders — regulators want to know if that arrangement was coordinated in a way that limits competition or harms consumers.
Goodell’s lawyers clearly felt that testifying on this topic, with litigation already in motion, was not in the league’s interest. That’s a predictable legal call. It doesn’t answer the question of whether what the NFL did was legal or fair.
What This Means for Fire TV NFL Viewers Right Now
Honestly? Not much changes immediately. The congressional hearing and DOJ inquiry are background noise for the 2026 NFL season. The media deals are already signed. The apps are already on your Fire TV.
What could change long-term — if the antitrust scrutiny leads somewhere — is how those deals get structured in the next rights cycle. There’s a nonzero chance that future NFL packages look more consolidated, or that exclusive-streaming arrangements come under new restrictions.
For now, if you want to watch NFL games on your Firestick without paying for six different services, a live TV bundle is still the most practical answer. Our guide to watching NFL on Firestick covers every current option with current pricing.
✓ Pros
- Congressional scrutiny could lead to better consumer protections for streaming viewers
- DOJ investigation signals that exclusive streaming deals aren't untouchable
- Prime Video's Thursday Night Football deal already gives Fire TV users exclusive access at no extra cost with Amazon Prime
✕ Cons
- Goodell's refusal to testify delays any concrete action
- Current NFL broadcast fragmentation across 5+ apps and services remains fully intact
- Any regulatory changes would affect future rights cycles, not the 2026 season
The Bigger Picture for Cord-Cutters
This story fits into a broader pattern that every Fire TV user living without cable has noticed. Sports rights — NFL, NBA, MLB, college football — are increasingly being used as leverage to push viewers into premium streaming tiers.
That buffering you’ve been blaming on your WiFi? Sometimes it’s your ISP throttling heavy video traffic during peak game hours. A VPN fixes that.
Surfshark
- Native Fire TV app — no sideloading needed
- Stops ISP throttling during live games
- Unlimited simultaneous connections
- Fast enough for 4K HDR streams
The three best sports apps for Firestick right now all work better with a VPN running in the background. And if you’re trying to figure out which streaming services carry NFL Network, we’ve mapped out the current landscape there too.
The Bottom Line
Roger Goodell not showing up to Congress doesn’t resolve anything for Fire TV users trying to watch football without a cable bill. The deals are signed, the apps are fragmented, and the 2026 season will look a lot like the last few.
What this story does is put a spotlight on the problem that every cord-cutter already knows exists — sports rights are being used to fragment streaming in a way that costs viewers more money and creates more friction. Whether Congress or the DOJ does anything about it remains to be seen.
In the meantime, the most practical move is getting a live TV bundle that covers multiple NFL broadcast partners, pairing it with a VPN to stop ISP throttling, and keeping an eye on how this legal story develops heading into the next NFL rights cycle.
Get Surfshark — Best VPN for NFL on Fire TV
→How to Watch NFL on Firestick (Every Option)
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Last updated: June 2026
