The NFL is furious over the more than $4.7 billion verdict in Sunday’s antitrust ticketing case, and the league will appeal

A federal jury in Los Angeles has ordered an NFL team to pay a total of $4.7 billion to injured sports fans after finding that the league conspired with DirecTV and its network partners to raise the price of its exclusive Sunday Ticket game package.

The class action, originally filed in 2015, represented more than 2.4 million residential subscribers and more than 48,000 restaurants, bars and other commercial establishments that purchased Sunday Ticket when it was still on DirecTV. A jury awarded consumers represented in the class action $4.7 billion in damages, while the class including commercial locations received $96 million.

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If Thursday’s jury verdict is upheld, the NFL could be forced to pay more than $14 billion because federal antitrust law allows for three times the amount of monetary damages in such cases. The plaintiffs had sought as much as $7 billion in damages.

The NFL plans to appeal the ruling, with the league insisting it has the “most user-friendly distribution model” in the sports industry.

“We are disappointed with today’s jury verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” an NFL representative said in a statement. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which includes all NFL games streamed for free online,” over-the-air television in participating team markets and nationwide distribution of our most popular games, complemented by a host of additional options including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most a fan-friendly distribution model across all sports and entertainment. We thank the jury for their time and service, and for Judge Gutierrez’s guidance and supervision throughout the trial.”

DirecTV representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Until the 2023–24 NFL season, DirecTV had been a distribution partner for Sunday Ticket since 1994. DirecTV lost 28 years of control over Sunday Ticket to consumers when Google signed a seven-year deal with the NFL to sell the package via YouTube. Currently, Sunday Ticket covers all non-sale Sunday regular season NFL games broadcast on Fox and CBS.

During the hearing, the NFL argued that Sunday Ticket was exempt from antitrust enforcement under a 1961 congressional provision that allowed the league to enter into broadcasting deals with networks on behalf of participating teams. However, the plaintiffs argued that this exclusion only covered broadcast television and not subscription-based services. Additionally, evidence presented at trial showed that Fox and CBS wanted the NFL to charge higher prices for Sunday Ticket so that it would not erode their broadcast television ratings.

The lawsuit revealed that Disney ESPN proposed to acquire the rights to Sunday Tickets beginning with the 2023–24 season, which would result in a $70 per season package that would allow viewers to watch all out-of-market Sunday games for individual teams. The YouTube Sunday Ticket is priced at $349 per season (when purchased as part of a YouTube TV package) or $449 per season (when purchased as a standalone package).

The class action lawsuit groups in this case include all individuals and businesses who purchased Sunday Ticket from June 17, 2011 through February 7, 2023 from DirecTV.

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