Jury rules NFL must pay more than $5 billion in ‘Sunday Ticket’ lawsuit

“This case goes beyond football,” said Bill Carmody, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “It’s about justice. “It’s about telling the 32 team owners who collectively own all the major television rights that the most popular content in the history of television is what they have.”

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A federal judge has ordered an NFL team to pay about $5 billion after a jury found it violated antitrust laws by broadcasting overseas football games as part of premium subscription packages.

According to New York Timesthe jury ruling ends a months-long trial and potential class action lawsuit filed nearly a decade ago. The award includes an estimated $4.6 billion for consumers who purchased a Sunday Ticket subscription and allocates an additional $96 million to compensate bars and restaurants that purchased similar services.

Lawyers representing the group argued in court last week that the NFL and its commercial partners violated federal law by agreeing to broadcast nearly all of its games played outside the country on pricey subscription services, which were offered exclusively by DirecTV and NFLUHD from 1994 to 2023.

“The NFL, FOX, CBS and DirecTV agreed to build an expensive toll road that very few people can afford,” attorney Amanda Bonn said in opening statements. “Every competitor that participated in this scheme benefited.”

“This case goes beyond football,” said Bill Carmody, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

“This is about fairness. This is about telling the 32 team owners who collectively own all the major television rights that this is the most popular content in the history of television — that’s what they have,” he said. “This is about telling them that even you can’t ignore antitrust laws. Even you can’t collude to overcharge consumers. Even you can’t hide the truth and think you can get away with it.

Because federal law allows damages to be tripled in some antitrust cases, the league could be liable for up to $14.39 billion. Not surprisingly, the NFL has already released a statement indicating it plans to appeal.

“We are disappointed with today’s jury verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the NFL said in a statement. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which includes all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in participating team markets and nationwide distribution of our most popular games, complemented by many additional options including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most user-friendly fans as a distribution model across sports and entertainment.”

“We will certainly challenge this decision because we believe the class action lawsuits in this case are without merit and without merit,” the NFL said. “We thank the jury for their time and service, as well as the guidance and supervision of Judge (Philip) Gutierrez throughout the process.”

Sources

A jury found that the NFL violated antitrust laws in the “Sunday Ticket” case.

NFL must pay $4.7 billion in damages after Sunday Ticket broadcast lawsuit

NFL ordered to pay billions in Sunday Ticket lawsuit