Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester are challenging NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The senators are upset Montana football fans cannot watch Thursday night's Denver Broncos game without the NFL Network.

In a letter written to commissioner Goodell Wednesday, the senators argue it's not in the NFL's interest to limit the number of people who can see their teams play.

The Broncos play against the Houston Texans, in Houston Thursday night.

Montana's News Station's copy of the letter sent to Commissioner Goodell

It has recently come to our attention that the December 13, 2007 football game between the Denver Broncos and the Houston Texans is being carried by the NFL Network and that some of our constituents will not be able to see the game.  This is because the NFL Network is not presently carried by many cable operators or, as with Bresnan Communications, it is placed on a more expensive tier.

In the past, the majority of the Broncos games and other NFL favorites were carried in Montana on over-the-air stations that our constituents could watch with antennae or on basic cable.  The NFL, however, has recently elected to prevent broadcasters from carrying 8 live games, next Thursday's game among them, and is now offering them at a price that our local cable companies have decided is too expensive to pass on to their customers by carrying it on their most widely subscribed tier - particularly since those games represent only approximately 24 hours of live programming for the year.  Rather than having every cable customer pay the cost for this programming, local cable operators are either choosing not to carry the NFL network or are choosing to carry it on a sports tier so that only sports fans will pay for this programming.  Given the cost of carrying the new NFL Network and the fact that there are only eight of two hundred and fifty live games on the channel, we can understand this decision, but we're still very concerned that many of our constituents will be unable to watch their favorite team. 

For the sake of all Montanans, we ask the NFL, which collected $1.7 billion in royalties prior to the launch of the NFL Network, to find a way to allow all fans in our state to watch their favorite teams.  It is not in the NFL's interest to limit the number of people who can see their teams play.  We would hope that you will take whatever steps are necessary to work with cable, satellite and over-the-air television stations ensure that Montanans are able to watch their favorite football teams, no matter how they choose to receive their video programming.