By In a landmark decision, a jury in U.S. District Court has ruled that the NFL must pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages for breaching antitrust laws through its distribution of out-of-market Sunday afternoon games via the ‘Sunday Ticket’ premium subscription service. The verdict, reached Thursday, includes $4.7 billion awarded to residential subscribers and $96 million to commercial subscribers. Under federal antitrust laws, these damages could triple, potentially totaling $14.39 billion.
The lawsuit, representing 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses across the United States, alleged that the NFL unlawfully inflated prices for its Sunday games package and restricted competition by exclusively offering ‘Sunday Ticket’ through a satellite provider.
Reacting to the verdict, the NFL expressed disappointment and announced plans to appeal. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television and supplemented by offerings like RedZone, Sunday Ticket, and NFL+, is the most fan-friendly in sports and entertainment,” the league stated.
The trial, spanning three weeks, featured testimony from prominent figures including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Plaintiffs’ attorney Bill Carmody hailed the verdict as a win for consumer protection, emphasizing the significance of the jury’s decision in safeguarding consumer interests.
During the trial, evidence was presented, including an NFL memo from April 2017 discussing alternative broadcast scenarios for Sunday afternoon games, not aired by major networks Fox or CBS. The jury deliberated for nearly five hours before delivering its decision.
Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is set to review post-trial motions, including the NFL’s request for a favorable ruling based on its assertion that plaintiffs failed to substantiate their claims. Any payments and potential changes to the ‘Sunday Ticket’ package will be stayed pending the outcome of all appeals.
The NFL argued its right to offer ‘Sunday Ticket’ under broadcasting antitrust exemptions, contending these apply to free over-the-air broadcasts and not pay TV services like ‘Sunday Ticket’. The case has drawn attention from other professional sports leagues, which also offer out-of-market packages, although their models typically involve revenue-sharing among multiple distributors.
Since its inception in 1994, DirecTV had carried ‘Sunday Ticket’ until 2022. Recently, the NFL entered a new seven-year deal with Google’s YouTube TV starting from the 2023 season.
Originally filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco, the lawsuit was dismissed in 2017 but reinstated by the 9th Circuit Court two years later. Judge Gutierrez’s ruling in 2023 allowed the case to proceed as a class action, impacting the future of NFL’s broadcast rights and consumer access to premium sports content.
