NFL Responds To President Trump Criticizing Streaming Schedule

As much as he may love football, President Donald Trump has had what sometimes seems like a love-hate relationship with the NFL for about half of his life. Amid his most recent criticisms of the league for its increasing push to paid streaming subscription services, the league is firing back at the Commander-in-Chief.

Per ESPN's Stephen Holder, NFL executive vice president of media distribution Hans Schroeder told reporters on Friday that the league has no intentions of pulling back from any partnerships with streaming services. Schroeder said that the league loves the current model and declared that the NFL has "the most fan-friendly model there is."

"We love our model," Schroeder said. "We think we have the most fan-friendly model there is of any sport or entertainment as far as distribution."

Schroeder went on to say that the NFL is simply following user presence onto other streaming platforms and putting the game where the people already are.

"We think broadcast [networks] have been an incredible home," he said. "And, now, we also know fans are increasingly spending their time on other platforms as well. They tune into broadcast for the NFL and that's where we want to be. But we also want to be on these platforms with a limited amount of our games where we know our NFL fans are already as well.

"When we're going onto Netflix, we're going onto a platform that is already massively adopted and a huge number of viewers on that platform already, including a huge number of NFL fans."

The President Speaks

President Trump recently said on Full Measure that fans may not have enough money to spend on all of the different services that the league requires to see every game. He made it abundantly clear that he does not like the direction the NFL is taking its broadcast model.

"They're great people (the fans). They don't make enough money to go and pay this. It's tough," Trump said.

However, President Trump also stopped short of stating that he would have the federal government directly intervene.

"I don't know (if I would), but I don't like it," he added.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is reportedly reviewing the NFL's distribution decisions for potential violations of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which granted the league limited antitrust protections while allowing it to negotiate TV rights packages.

Don't expect a quick resolution to the issue though.

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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 11:29 AM.