Jury rules NFL violated antitrust laws in ‘Sunday Ticket’ case and awards $4.7 billion in damages

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A U.S. District Court jury ruled Thursday that the NFL violated antitrust law by distributing Sunday afternoon games out of market through a premium subscription service and awarded nearly $4.7 billion in damages.

The jury ordered the league to pay $4 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class.

The lawsuit targeted 2.4 million individual subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for a bundle of out-of-market games from the 2011-2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit claimed the league violated antitrust law by selling a package of Sunday games at an inflated price. Subscribers also claim that the league has limited competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only through a satellite provider.

The jury of five men and three women deliberated for nearly five hours before reaching their decision.

“This case goes beyond football. This case matters,” plaintiffs’ attorney Bill Carmody said during closing arguments Wednesday. “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 — that’s what they own. It’s about telling them that even you can’t ignore the 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.”

The NFL was expected to appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly to the Supreme Court.

The league has maintained that it has the right to sell the “Sunday Ticket” under its broadcast antitrust exemption. The plaintiffs argue that applies only to terrestrial broadcasts, not pay television.

“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 national distribution of our most popular games, complemented by a host of additional options including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan-friendly model distribution in all sports and entertainment disciplines.

“We will certainly challenge this decision as we believe that the class claims in this case are baseless and without merit.”

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

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

For the latest news, weather, sports and streaming video, head to WJBF.