NFL Loses ‘Sunday Ticket’ Lawsuit, Federal Court Orders to Pay $4 Billion (Video)

A federal jury has ordered the league to pay $4.7 billion in individual damages and $96 million in a class action lawsuit filed against the league by NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers. The verdict was first reported by journalist Meghann Cuniff.

The lawsuit argues that the NFL, its teams and network partners (DirecTV, CBS, ESPN and Fox) violated antitrust laws by cooperating to restrict competition and selling out-of-market television packages at inflated prices.

The plaintiffs included more than 2.4 million individual subscribers and more than 48,000 restaurants, bars, and other commercial establishments that purchased a “Sunday Ticket” subscription. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 on behalf of the San Francisco sports bar Mucky Duck, alleging that DirecTV, CBS, ESPN, and Fox violated antitrust laws by stifling competition through exclusive agreements with the NFL that restricted fans from watching out-of-market games.

From 1994-2022, the NFL Sunday Ticket package was available exclusively on DirecTV.

The plaintiffs sought damages of $7 billion in the lawsuit. Under federal antitrust law, damages could triple, so the $4 billion judgment would increase to $12 billion, according to Spotrac.

The NFL plans to appeal the decision to U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez, arguing that the damages are “excessive and unreasonable,” via Sportico’s Michael McCann. The league also released a statement saying it was “disappointed with today’s jury verdict.”

“We will certainly challenge this decision as we believe class action lawsuits in this matter are meritless and without merit,” the NFL said in a statement.

The NFL, team owners including Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft, and commissioner Roger Goodell testified that “Sunday Ticket” was a “premium product” that was not intended to attract large numbers of subscribers because the league did not want to negatively impact its partners’ viewership television.

“The NFL has never allowed prices to fall again,” plaintiffs’ attorney Amanda Bonn said, citing DirecTV’s 2012 price drop that led to a 40% increase in subscribers. “That’s an illegal antitrust program in action.”

Closing arguments included a 2017 NFL memo that said the league was considering broadcasting games played outside its target market on cable if a decision was made to terminate the “Sunday Ticket” channel as its deal with DirecTV ended.

Additionally, according to The Boston Globe, an email from ESPN in 2021 suggested a smaller package priced at $70 per season, which the NFL rejected. The “Sunday Ticket” service is now available on YouTube TV, and last season it cost $349.

Given that the case involved antitrust law, the NFL’s decision to hire attorney Beth Wilkinson was curious because she has no experience handling such cases, a source told ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr.

The NFL will now file post-trial motions, which will be heard by Judge Gutierrez on July 31. Gutierrez previously expressed frustration with the way plaintiffs handled the case, overcomplicating it and potentially challenging the verdict. According to Front Office Sports, the referee may also be asked to consider changes to the “Sunday Ticket” package.

If the ruling is upheld, the NFL will appeal the verdict, which would likely lock up the case for months, if not years, and delay any payments the plaintiffs could receive in addition to the proposed changes to the “Sunday Ticket” offering for subscriber games.