Jury begins deliberations in class action lawsuit against NFL filed by ‘Sunday Ticket’ subscribers | Business

After receiving instructions from U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez, the jury heard closing arguments from plaintiffs in the morning. After lunch, the NFL delivered its closing arguments before plaintiffs had 20 minutes to rebuttal.

During the trial, which lasted three weeks and included testimony from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, an April 21, 2017 memo titled “NFL New Frontier” was among the highlights.

The memo reimagined Sunday afternoons when every game was broadcast on television or cable. Fox and CBS would pay 25% less per game (about $10 million per game), while cable networks would pay $9 million per game, which was the average amount paid by DirecTV under its deal with the league.

The data included rights that expired after the 2022 season. These averages would now be higher for deals that started last season.

The league notes showed early games on FS1, ESPN, ESPN2, TBS, TNT, NFL Network and CBS Sports Network, and late games on FS1, TBS and TNT.

“The NFL knew that 35 million fans were not getting enough help,” William Carmody, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, said during closing arguments. “We hold them accountable. It’s about telling 32 team owners that even you can’t break antitrust laws and overcharge fans. It’s not okay to compete on the field, but to collude off it.

Some of the out-of-market games covered by the NFL memo, however, would not be broadcast on regular cable television. Fans and cable companies would also cover some of the costs through higher subscription fees.

The lawsuit covers 2.4 million individual subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for a package of out-of-market games from the 2011-2022 seasons on DirecTV. It claims the league violated antitrust laws by selling a package of Sunday games at an inflated price. Subscribers also claim the league limits competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only from a satellite provider.

The league maintains it has the right to sell “Sunday Ticket” under an antitrust exemption for broadcasts. The plaintiffs argue that this only applies to terrestrial broadcasts, not pay TV.

Beth Wilkinson, general counsel for the NFL, said the league does not dispute that the Sunday Ticket is a premium product and has always been advertised as such.

She also noted that league and social media representatives have testified that the current model makes the most sense.

“Sunday ticket option added.” You choose, you know the price, you pay for it,” she said.

Even if the jury of five men and three women rules in favor of the plaintiffs, Gutierrez would still be able to rule in favor of the NFL and find that the plaintiffs failed to prove their case.

DirecTV had “Sunday Ticket” from its inception in 1994–2022. The league signed a seven-year contract with Google YouTube TV that began in the 2023 season.

If the NFL is found liable, a jury could award $7 billion in damages, but that number could rise to $21 billion because antitrust cases can triple damages. It would also change how the league would have to distribute out-of-market programming and could lead to renegotiated contracts with Fox and CBS. The league’s current contracts run through the 2033 season.

CBS and Fox pay an average of $4.3 billion per season for Sunday afternoon games, while YouTube TV pays an average of $2 billion per season for Sunday Ticket rights.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 by San Francisco sports bar Mucky Duck, but was dismissed in 2017. Two years later, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over California and eight other states, revived the case. Last year, Gutierrez ruled that the case could be litigated as a class action.

Whatever the decision, you can expect that the losing side will appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly to the Supreme Court.