NFL ordered to pay nearly $5 billion in Sunday Ticket antitrust case

On Thursday, a jury found that the National Football League (NFL) must pay nearly $4.8 billion for violating antitrust laws in distributing its “Sunday Ticket” package of out-of-market games to a single satellite television service.

The verdict in the month-long class action trial awarded more than $4.6 billion in damages to a class of 2.4 million individual subscribers and $96 million in damages to a class of 48,000 businesses that subscribed to the service. The NFL could face up to $14.39 billion because damages could be tripled under federal antitrust laws, according to the Associated Press.

In a statement released Thursday, the NFL said it intended to appeal the ruling.

“We are disappointed with today’s jury verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the league 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 a variety of additional options including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan-friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment,” the league continued. “We will certainly challenge this decision, as we believe the class action claims in this case are without merit and without merit.”

The plaintiffs in that case argued that the NFL sold packages of Sunday afternoon games at an inflated price and that the league limited competition by offering the service exclusively through DirecTV, a satellite provider.

“Justice has been done. The verdict upholds consumer protections in our class. It was a great day for consumers,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Bill Carmody, according to the AP.

The NFL has argued that it could sell off-market services under an antitrust exemption for broadcasters, but the plaintiffs say the exemption does not extend to pay TV.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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