Here’s What You Need to Know About the ‘NFL Sunday Ticket’ Verdict and What’s Next

LOS ANGELES — The NFL has been found guilty of violating antitrust laws in connection with its distribution of Sunday afternoon games played outside the country through its “Sunday Ticket” subscription service.

Although a jury of five men and three women in U.S. District Court on Thursday awarded nearly $4.8 billion in damages to individual and commercial subscribers of the Sunday Ticket service, no settlement checks or shutdown of the service are expected anytime soon.

What did the jury find?

The league broke antitrust laws by selling Sunday Ticket only on DirecTV and at an inflated price. By offering the service only through one distributor and at a high price, it limited the subscriber base and appeased CBS and Fox’s concerns about maintaining local ratings, while the NFL received a lot of money for its broadcast rights.

How long did the trial take?

Three weeks. It began with opening statements June 6 and included 10 days of testimony before closing arguments Wednesday. The jury deliberated for nearly five hours Wednesday and Thursday before reaching its decision.

The NFL brought in Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to testify, but it didn’t help. The plaintiffs relied mainly on economists and videotapes of pretrial depositions.

Who were the plaintiffs?

The class action lawsuit covered more than 2.4 million individual subscribers and 48,000 businesses, primarily bars and restaurants, that purchased NFL Sunday Tickets between June 17, 2011, and February 7, 2023.

How does the damages get divided?

The jury awarded $4.7 billion to individual subscribers and $96 million to businesses. Because damages are triple that under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could ultimately face liability of $14.39 billion if it doesn’t settle or have its costs reduced

The compensation to residents was slightly less than the $5.6 billion offered under the College Football Model put forward by the plaintiff, but higher than the amount offered under a model in which the Sunday Ticket would have had multiple operators and the subscription cost would have been 49.7% lower ($2.81 billion).

The damages to the company were significantly lower than those that the plaintiff presented under any of his three models. The lowest amount was $332 million under the model known as the “NFL Tax.”

How will the NFL pay compensation?

That would be split evenly among the 32 teams. That means each team could pay up to $449.6 million.

Will there be any immediate changes?

Changes to the Sunday Ticket package and/or the way the NFL broadcasts its Sunday afternoon games will be put on hold until all appeals are complete. Consideration could be given to offering team-by-team or week-by-week packages with a reduced price.

ESPN proposed introducing a $70-per-season “Sunday Ticket” option with team packages in 2022, but the NFL rejected that proposal before moving to YouTube TV.

If the NFL had offered packages to individual teams from the beginning, it is likely that none of the key members of the class would have participated in the lawsuit.

Rob Lippincott — a New Orleans native who moved to California — purchased a “Sunday Ticket” for Saints games only.

“He just wanted the Saints. If he had the choice to buy a single-team package and watch the Saints games, he certainly would have done that,” plaintiffs’ attorney Amanda Bonn said during her opening statement June 6.

If college football had to change, why not the NFL?

The landmark 1984 college football television case was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. It happened at the U.S. District Court level.

The NFL said it will appeal the ruling, which will go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then likely to the Supreme Court.

This would not be the first time the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has considered the case.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 by San Francisco sports bar Mucky Duck. On June 30, 2017, U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell dismissed the lawsuit and ruled in favor of the NFL. Two years later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the case.

What were the key elements of the plaintiff’s case?

During closing arguments, chief legal counsel Bill Carmody showed an NFL memo from April 2017 that showed the league was considering a world without “Sunday Ticket” in 2017, in which cable channels would air out-of-market Sunday afternoon games that Fox or CBS did not show.

Judge Philip S. Gutierrez expressed disappointment with the plaintiffs’ lawyers halfway through the hearing, but Carmody’s closing argument was clear and easy to understand.

Was the NFL the underdog in this process?

The NFL may be the king of American sports and one of the most powerful leagues in the world, but it often loses in court, especially in Los Angeles. It was in a federal court in Los Angeles in 1982 that a jury ruled that the league had violated antitrust laws by preventing Al Davis from moving the Raiders from Oakland to Los Angeles.

What’s next?

All eyes will turn to July 31, when Gutierrez is scheduled to hear post-trial motions. That will include the NFL’s request to rule in favor of the league because the judge found the plaintiffs failed to prove their case.

Could this have an impact on other sports?

All the major leagues in the U.S. offer out-of-market packages. They are watching this closely because individual teams selling their broadcast rights out-of-market, especially in baseball, would further separate the haves from the have-nots.

One significant difference, however, is that MLB, NBA, and NHL sell their packages off-market to multiple distributors and share the revenue per subscriber, rather than receiving a full rights fee.

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