NFL fans will likely have to spend more to watch the league’s full slate of games each week in 2026. 

A YouTube TV “NFL Sunday Ticket” subscription can cost several hundred dollars, but does not provide access to every game. Fans must also subscribe to Amazon Prime, Peacock and Netflix to watch the full slate. All-in costs for these packages exceed $1,500, but that figure does not include fees or internet costs.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr has made it a priority to support American sports fans as the NFL, NBA, MLB and other leagues move key games from broadcast and cable television to costly streaming services. However, the NFL could lose its antitrust exemption if too many games are placed behind a paywall, Carr said this week.

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“Does the NFL still benefit from the antitrust exemption when they’re negotiating for carriage of games not on a sponsored telecast, but on a streaming service?” Carr said at an event in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, via Semafor. “That’s a very live, very ripe question.”

Carr cautioned there is “a point at which you sort of tip the scale, and they’ve just put too many games behind a paywall, and then that whole exemption collapses.”

NFL FANS CALL THE LEAGUE’S STREAMING STRATEGY A ‘MONEY GRAB’ AS COSTS SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL

A 1961 law allows the NFL to negotiate leaguewide TV deals without violating U.S. antitrust rules, provided it meets certain conditions, including protecting customer access. The stakes are high if the NFL’s antitrust exemption goes away, particularly if individual franchises begin selling their TV rights separately.

Carr pointed to broader implications for media rights negotiations. “If the NFL teams were able to collectively negotiate,” he said, “should the broadcasters, perhaps, be able to collectively negotiate as well?”

Fox News Digital contacted the NFL for comment, but league officials did not immediately respond.

Last month, the FCC said it would seek public comment on the shift of live sports from broadcast channels to streaming platforms. The comment period runs through March 27, and replies are due April 13.

Carr acknowledged that the rising cost and sometimes inconvenient nature of sports streaming are frustrating fans, arguing the drawbacks ultimately outweigh the benefits.

Carr acknowledged the rising cost and sometimes inconvenient nature of sports streaming are frustrating fans, arguing the drawbacks ultimately outweigh the benefits.

“Americans are frustrated when they sit down and can’t find the game they want to watch. And that feeling grows only worse when they realize that they might need to sign up for another streaming service to watch the game,” Carr previously told Fox News Digital. 

“There has long been a strong and mutually beneficial relationship between sports leagues and broadcasters, and consumers will benefit if that continues,” Carr continued. “I want to see Americans continue to benefit from free over-the-air sports programming.”

Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.

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The University of Southern California (USC) is under fire after canceling the California gubernatorial debate with less than 24 hours’ notice. The reason? None of the polling candidates are people of color. It was a crushingly revealing moment in a state where universities have long defied voters who demanded an end to affirmative action in admissions.

USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future and ABC/KABC Los Angeles were scheduled to co-host the debate at Bovard Auditorium on Tuesday evening. Then it was canceled on Monday.

Former Biden Health and Human Services Secretary and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra had sent a letter to President Beong-Soo Kim, alleging “election rigging” and objecting “you disqualified all of the candidates of color from participating.”

For many, USC succeeded in beclowning itself by first defending USC Professor Christian Grose’s “data-driven” selection process and then abruptly canceling the debate lineup selected through that process. If that seems incomprehensible, welcome to American higher education.

JON STEWART BLASTS CALIFORNIA DEMS, WARNING THEIR EIGHT CANDIDATES MAY SPLIT VOTE, LEAD TO GOP VICTORY

The cancellation is only the latest unexpected turn in the election, where the two top vote-getters will face each other in a runoff election.

California Democrats are in a panic as two Republicans currently top the polling: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and commentator Steve Hilton.

At the same time, the leading Democrats include controversial candidates such as former Rep. Katie Porter and Rep. Eric Swalwell. Porter is best known nationally for spewing profanity and abuse at staff members. Last year, Swalwell was outvoted by Rep. Raul Grijalva, who died in March 2025. However, they are still doing markedly better than Becerra with voters.

BIANCO SAYS ‘DEMOCRAT POLICY IS INDEFENSIBLE’ AS GOP CANDIDATES TOP CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR POLLING

USC insisted that it “vigorously defends the independence, objectivity, and integrity of USC Professor Christian Grose, whose data-driven candidate viability formula is based on extensive research and enjoys broad academic support.”

That “data-driven system” produced a lineup of Bianco and Hilton as well as Democrats billionaire Tom Steyer, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Porter and Swalwell.

Advocates then went into full rage, calling the process racist and rigged. Becerra declared:

CHAD BIANCO REVEALS HIS CALIFORNIA SPORTS VISION: SAVING THE LA OLYMPICS AND TRANS ATHLETE CRISIS CONSEQUENCES

“USC goes to great lengths to justify its exclusionary candidate formula. But you can’t escape the detestable outcome: you disqualified all of the candidates of color from participating while you invited a white candidate who has NEVER polled higher than some of the candidates of color, including me.”

However, the methodology considered both polling percentage and fundraising with the polling given greater weight.

Becerra has been shown at 3%, notably within the statistical margin of error for most polls. In other words, he could be closer to zero. (He is shown as tied with Mahan, who Becerra appears to be referencing in his letter as lacking higher polling).

CALIFORNIA DEMS LASH OUT AT ICE DURING GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE

USC then yielded after trying to expand the number of participants to appease objectors. In a statement, USC stated:

“We recognize that concerns about the selection criteria for tomorrow’s gubernatorial debate have created a significant distraction from the issues that matter to voters. Unfortunately, USC and [debate co-sponsor] KABC have not been able to reach an agreement on expanding the number of candidates at tomorrow’s debate. As a result, USC has made the difficult decision to cancel tomorrow’s debate and will look for other opportunities to educate voters on the candidates and issues.”

Becerra took a victory lap: “We fought. We won! … Thank you to everyone who stood up, raised hell and demanded justice. Never give up when you’re fighting for fairness!”

NO CLEAR CHAMPION OF CASH PAYMENT REPARATIONS AMONG DEMOCRATS IN CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL RACE

At least Becerra’s position is comprehensible. He has long defended affirmative action in California. Indeed, despite statewide votes against the practice, California universities continue to be accused of applying racial criteria in admissions. Becerra is effectively demanding such action for himself as a “candidate of color.”

USC was left stumbling in search of a place to hide. USC scholars defended the process that USC affectively scuttled:

“All of us expect and welcome critical engagement from inside and outside the academy. What Professor Grose has faced, however, is not substantive or methodological debate. Attacks and insinuations from members of the political classes include completely baseless allegations of election-rigging, inconsistency, bias and data manipulation. These are harmful character assassinations, not substantive debate. They are of a piece with other attempts to strong-arm or malign scholars that have become all too common in America.

Whatever their intent, the effect of these attacks is to diminish academic freedom and chill scholarly willingness to add their voices to the public square. It is imperative that universities defend their faculties’ integrity when it is unfairly attacked.”

That is a powerful statement if one does not then consider that the university caved, cancelled the debate, and meekly said that it will “look for other opportunities to educate voters on the candidates and issues.” The “strong-arming” succeeded.

What is particularly disappointing is that I just spoke at USC and was impressed with the members of the USC community seeking to restore a diversity of viewpoints. The event was sponsored by The Center for the Political Future, which was the sponsor of the debate. It was also organized by the USC Open Dialogue Project and the USC chapter of the Heterodox Academy. Both have written in defense of this process.

Professor Morris Levy with Heterodox wrote: “[USC’s] message is unmistakable: USC was allowing ‘concerns’ and a public ‘distraction’ to override its own institutional conviction that the selection formula was data-driven and backed by research.”

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So Heterodox, The Center for the Political Future, and ABC7 issued statements indicating that they were prepared to go forward and also defended the process of selection. That left only USC.

In this controversy, USC succeeded in finding the least defensible ground to make its stand. It denounced the cancel campaign but then effectively yielded to it.

The alternative is to stand by your race-blind, data-driven process and hold the debate for all invited candidates willing to attend.

Where USC was criticized recently for its fake punt in the game with Northwestern, it actually punted in this play and left the field.

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A forensic scientist with decades of experience in his craft remains skeptical about pronouncements from the Spanish government regarding the death of American college student James “Jimmy” Gracey.

“So you’ve got a young man that leaves a bar in the middle of the night, or certainly after midnight,” Joseph Scott Morgan, associate professor of applied forensics at Jacksonville State University, told Fox News Digital. 

“He’s allegedly seen leaving with someone initially, and now we’re not really clear about that. He’s adjacent to a very, let’s just say, slippery area with rocks jetting out into the water. Did he fall off of the rocks? Well, I guess that’s certainly plausible.”

Gracey, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Alabama, vanished in the early morning hours of March 17 after clubbing with friends at a popular tourist bar in Barcelona. His body was found two days later close to a nearby pier.

Almost immediately, Spanish authorities told the press that Gracey’s death was accidental and that he wandered toward the water while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They said his wallet was recovered intact, with cash, credit cards and identification all inside.

A chain necklace worn by Gracey remains unaccounted for. 

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA STUDENT JAMES GRACEY DISAPPEARS IN BARCELONA AFTER VISITING FRIENDS STUDYING ABROAD

Authorities later said they retrieved Gracey’s phone from a suspect in a crime unrelated to Gracey.

“The Spanish government, or at least their newspaper, is actually saying that he sustained multiple injuries over the course — and they’re framing these injuries as bruises — over a number of hours, and scientifically, that’s implausible,” said Morgan. “You can be insulted [by] bouncing off of rocks in a post-mortem state or deceased, and you get little dings on the body, little injuries, if you will, artifacts, as we refer to them as, off of these sharp rocks, but you’re not gonna bruise. That’s a problem for me.”

Morgan argues that all the statements made by authorities were done so too early — especially in the way of toxicology.

POLICE INVESTIGATING ALABAMA STUDENT JIMMY GRACEY’S DEATH PURSUE NO CHARGES AS THEY AWAIT TOXICOLOGY, AUTOPSY

“The government, I guess through the newspaper, are making statements relative to their conclusions about his death, and they’re missing a big piece of the puzzle here because everybody wants to know, did he have anything placed in his drink?” asked Morgan. “Was he plied with something? Let’s say like a date rape drug, something that would knock down inhibitions and make him certainly more controllable.“

The professor, who began his career with the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office in New Orleans in 1985 before becoming the senior investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner in Atlanta, thinks the Gracey family should have a private autopsy completed, though he’s not sure whether that’s still possible.

“It’s my opinion that the family would… they would be well-served by having their own examination of Jimmy’s remains at the hands of a board-certified forensic pathologist that they should contract with to do this,” he said.

MYSTERY DEEPENS AS NANCY GRACE QUESTIONS ‘ACCIDENTAL’ DEATH OF ALABAMA STUDENT IN BARCELONA

But, as confirmed by Fox News Digital, Chief Communication Officer Harles Valles of Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalan’s provincial-level police, said Gracey’s body was returned to the United States on Tuesday.

“Now, here’s the big problem, is that his body would have been prepared prior to leaving Spain to travel over here, OK? We don’t know what organ samples they could still avail themselves of,” Morgan said. “The big piece to this is that there’s no toxicology you could do here. Those toxicology samples that were drawn in Spain are gonna be key.”

Ultimately, Morgan worries that Spanish authorities could have jumped to the conclusion of accidental death, given that Barcelona is a major tourist hub. He said he has seen many such cases.

“Barcelona is a vacation destination,” he said. “There are millions of people there right now, and a goodly portion of that population right now are there on holiday. I’ve got friends in Great Britain that love to go to Spain, they love to go to Barcelona. And so yeah, that’s their life’s blood.”

“So yeah, I can see, you know, you don’t want to drive off the customer, and the fact that they were trying to defuse it so early, it makes me raise an eyebrow, I’ve gotta tell you.”