Roger Goodell suggests streaming distribution ‘bigger than some of the networks’

The NFL will continue to find ways to put more games on streaming services, and the league will continue to suggest it’s doing so because that’s where viewers are headed.

The league certainly is not wrong on that point. Streaming is growing as a share of television consumption with each passing year, while traditional distribution channels like cable, satellite, and broadcast continue to shrink. But even in 2026, broadcast television remains a surefire way to maximize distribution of live sporting events, as the NFL proves each and every Sunday throughout the autumn months.

That’s why, as the league has repeatedly emphasized in the wake of an investigation by the Department of Justice into its broadcast rights practices, about 88% of all NFL games are still available on free-to-air broadcast television, a figure that climbs to 100% in a team’s local market. “The other 12 percent are on platforms that are incredibly widely distributed, and people are already there. Netflix is not a small distribution. In fact, you can make an argument it’s bigger than some of the networks,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told Lachlan Cartwright as part of a recent profile in Vanity Fair.

In recent years, the NFL has awarded games to Amazon’s Prime Video, Netflix, and even YouTube, three of the world’s largest video streaming platforms. That transition has caused some angst amongst fans, who are forced to pay for additional streaming subscriptions if they want to watch the games.

But it’s undeniable that streaming is becoming more popular among consumers as traditional television declines.

According to Nielsen’s February 2026 edition of The Gauge, 48% of all television viewing was on streaming services, compared with 21.7% on broadcast and 20% on cable. Mind you, this is a month when both the Super Bowl and the Olympics aired on broadcast television, yet streaming viewing still doubled broadcast’s share of consumption. Just two years ago, in February 2024, streaming accounted for just 37.7% of television viewing, cable stood at 27.6%, and broadcast held a 23.3% share.

The NFL would assert that not moving more games to streaming would leave fans behind.

But when games are split among many streamers, it is difficult for fans (and their wallets) to keep up. There are many fans who might want to watch Netflix’s Christmas Day doubleheader, but do not believe it is worth shelling out $8.99 for the streamer’s lowest-priced subscription.

Goodell’s comments come amid reports that the league is destined to sell a new five-game package to a streamer this year, made up partly of games that used to be set aside for Monday Night Football doubleheaders, a widely anticipated Thanksgiving Eve game, and an international game. YouTube is reportedly the front-runner for that package, which would tamp down any criticism, considering the platform would likely offer the games for free, similar to its Week 1 Brazil game last season. But the expected five-game streaming package is emblematic of the criticism the NFL is facing from both fans and politicians alike.

Still, it’s hard to say Goodell is wrong when he says streaming is now a wide distribution. But whether it’s the most accessible distribution is another question. Viewership data would suggest broadcast is still far and away the most accessible means of distribution, even if streaming is slowly subsuming television consumption that once went to broadcast or cable.