Mike Florio

And who knows how it would look, but the NFL desperately needs to keep that exemption.

I don't think it goes away, but this is the first time I can ever remember the exemption getting sustained consistent pressure from both sides of the aisle.

So it's something to keep an eye on.

And I think there may be hearings this summer on the issue.

So it could get very interesting and it could be the kind of thing that gets the NFL

to realize we need to be on broadcast, over the air, free TV, and we can't go too far in the direction of streaming.

That's really the core of this.

The whole exemption was premised on the idea of broadcast being available and free to the public through the FCC regulated three-letter networks that are free to anyone who's got the rabbit ears.

Once you start putting too much of the NFL's content behind a paywall, that's when they may have a problem.

Well, yeah, the bots and the brokers all swoop in and buy all the tickets.

The fans get frozen out, and they have to buy them on the secondary market.

It's some massive upcharge, and that's just kind of how it goes.

But it shows you how thirsty folks are to have these NFL games.

It really is, though, open to debate as to whether or not the international experiment is working.

It could be that as a one-time traveling road show, the circus is in town, we have to go see it.

Does it really trickle over to widespread fan interest in consuming the game on TV?

I think that's where the NFL's been struggling in other countries.

The number of viewers.

When they did the YouTube game last year, Chargers hosting the Chiefs in Brazil, the international number was like a million.

Like, really?