Fox's Lachlan Murdoch claims there's "really no tension" with the NFL

After the dust settled on a Monday chock full of developments regarding the NFL's relationships with the various broadcast networks, Joe Flint of Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal tweeted this: "I’m sure that there is no correlation between the DOJ probe into Sports Broadcasting Act and grumbling about putting too many games on streamers and today’s NFL news that Fox, NBC got more games and CBS got to move an afternoon game to prime time next season."

If there is a correlation, it appears to be window dressing. The deeper issue is the attempt (starting with CBS) to get significant increases in annual payments under existing broadcast deals that run through 2029 for CBS, Fox, NBC, Amazon, and YouTube and through 2030 for ESPN/ABC. And if it wasn't already obvious that the effort was sparked by the magnitude of the NBA's latest broadcast deals, a recent profile of Commissioner Roger Goodell in Vanity Fair made that point as clear as it could be.

Fox, CBS, and NBC buying extra games for 2026 doesn't solve the deeper, and more significant, question of whether the league wants more from the networks now with the "or else" being a potential shift of current broadcast packages to streaming companies.

So, yes, there's obviously tension between the NFL and Fox. A major media mogul has created a significant political problem for the league, one that has put the device that fuels the NFL's entire economic model in jeopardy.

Without the broadcast antitrust exemption, the teams would have to sell their TV rights individually. Some teams (starting with the Cowboys) would earn dramatically more than others. The biggest source of funds for revenue sharing would collapse. The salary cap would be skewed in favor of the teams earning more, and against the teams making less.

Taken to the extreme, the NFL could fracture into two leagues — one consisting of the teams selling the more attractive TV packages, and one made up of the teams selling the less attractive TV packages.

And it all traces to Fox. How can Fox claim there's no tension when Fox has deliberately lit the fuse that is burning toward a bomb that could, in theory, blow up the entire house?