Optimum’s Blackout Betrayal: Sports Fans Deserve Better
Once again, sports fans are being used as pawns in a nearly-month long corporate standoff, and this time, Optimum and its parent company Altice are the culprits. While MSG Networks has made it clear that they are willing to keep the channels live during negotiations, Optimum has chosen to pull the plug—leaving die-hard sports fans in the dark.
This isn’t about fair negotiations. This is about Optimum using sports fans as leverage while they wrangle over dollars and cents. And that’s unacceptable.
SFC Files Amicus Brief in NFL Sunday Ticket Antitrust Litigation
SFC filed an amicus brief in the ongoing NFL Sunday Ticket antitrust litigation, arguing that the league abuses its antitrust exemption, causing harm to fans nationwide and that the overturning of the multi-billion dollar verdict is wrong. We are outraged that, once again, the NFL may get away with restricting access and charging higher prices, and that fans are left holding the bag, even after the judge affirmed the jury’s verdict that the NFL violated antitrust laws. We can not let the NFL get away with it again!
Fubo throws in the towel despite having the upper hand
In August, Fubo delivered a stunning upset against Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery – getting a preliminary injunction granted against the wildly anticompetitive Venu Sports. Now they’ve abandoned the cause altogether, opting to be acquired by Disney instead.
Statement on Including the TICKET Act in the Continuing Resolution
Fans have long called for all-in pricing and an end to deceptive ticketing practices. The four corners agreement on the TICKET Act represents a strong, commonsense approach to ticketing legislation that answers this call. SFC believes it should be included in the Continuing Resolution. The 118th Congress gaveled in with a hearing about how the Ticketmaster monopoly has ruined the live event ecosystem for fans. Now, Congress can gavel out by passing the most comprehensive ticketing reforms in nearly a decade.
DOJ and 16 State Attorneys General join SFC in Supporting injunction against Venu Sports
Possibly the most significant antitrust case working its way through the courts right now is Fubo v. Disney et. al. In August, we, along with the America Economic Liberties Project, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Open Markets Institute, and Public Knowledge, filed an amicus brief supporting Fubo in its lawsuit against Disney and the Venu Sports joint venture partners. After Judge Garnett granted Fubo a preliminary injunction against the venture, the Venu Sports partners appealed. We filed another amicus brief, but with even more partners, adding the American Antitrust Institute, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the National Consumers League.
Well, the team just keeps getting bigger! Now, the DOJ and 16 state Attorneys General have filed briefs.
Big Steps Forward for Andretti Cadillac
Sports Fans Coalition called out the anticompetitive practices of Liberty Media while they tried to prevent Andretti from joining Formula 1. Now, it seems, they heard our call. Andretti’s mission of joining the grid for the 2026 season has come to fruition, albeit under a different name.