This is The Poynter Report, your daily guide to the news about news. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every weekday. There’s a big National Football League game going on right now. Wait, it’s not even football season, you say. True. But there’s plenty at stake in this game, especially how consumers consume this immensely popular product. And it even has major political and business implications involving big names like NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Fox founder Rupert Murdoch and even President Donald Trump. Let’s start here: There is nothing more popular on American television than the NFL. It’s not even close. Of the top 50 most-watched television telecasts in 2025, 46 were NFL games — led by Super Bowl LIX (in February 2025), which attracted 127.7 million viewers. Of the top 100 shows, 83 were NFL games. This year’s Super Bowl averaged 125.6 million viewers. Americans love football. But there’s a major downside, too, and it’s playing out from New York to Washington to Los Angeles.…