NFL Sued Over Bluesky Ban by Fans Citing Antitrust Violations

In a legal challenge that could have significant implications for the NFL’s social media strategy, two fans have filed a lawsuit against the league, arguing that its policy prohibiting teams from using Bluesky violates antitrust law. The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, seeks to have the policy blocked by a federal judge.

According to Sportico, the plaintiffs, Patrick Brown, a Chicago Bears fan, and Collin Vincent, a Seattle Seahawks supporter, both have Bluesky accounts and wish to follow their NFL teams on the platform. However, they claim that the NFL’s policy, which restricts teams to sharing content on platforms with which the league has established partnerships—such as X, TikTok, and YouTube—prevents them from doing so.

The league’s stance on Bluesky gained attention last month when the New England Patriots briefly created an account on the platform before deleting it after being informed of the policy. As Sportico previously reported, the NFL and its 32 franchises adhere to strict content distribution agreements, limiting their presence to select social media platforms.

In their complaint, Brown and Vincent describe the league’s policy as “an unlawful group boycott and restraint of free speech and commerce.” They argue that because each NFL team operates as a separate business, restrictions on their individual choices in content distribution should be subject to antitrust scrutiny. Per Sportico, the lawsuit asserts that when competing businesses collectively agree to limit competition in a way that harms a protected market, they may violate antitrust laws.

The legal filing, authored by Thomas H. Burt and other attorneys from Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, highlights the NFL’s partnership with X, particularly its agreement to provide “in-progress game highlights, including all touchdowns, moments after they happen.” The lawsuit claims that X is a direct competitor to Bluesky, and that the league’s exclusive deal with X effectively forces teams to avoid engaging with Bluesky, reinforcing an alleged anticompetitive practice.

Furthermore, the complaint points out that Bluesky has amassed more than 28 million users—significantly fewer than X’s estimated 650 million—many of whom are former X users looking for an alternative. Brown and Vincent argue that some NFL fans “do not want to have to follow their teams on Elon Musk’s X platform.”

Source: Sportico