Houston Texans Could Lose $450 Million in NFL Sunday Ticket Lawsuit

The NFL is not only the most popular sport in the United States, but also a staggering, multi-billion dollar business. While college football, the NBA, and other major American sports continue to grow, the NFL remains the king and leader of the industry.

The NFL has 32 franchises, including the Houston Texans. Each organization is a business within the league, and the franchises are responsible for any legal issues the league encounters. The NFL recently lost an antitrust lawsuit.

Last week, the NFL lost an antitrust lawsuit against customers who purchased Sunday Ticket, the NFL’s streaming service to access games, through DirecTV between 2011 and 2022. A jury awarded individual consumers $4.7 billion in damages, and the companies were awarded nearly $100 million in damages. Under antitrust law, the damages could triple before it’s all over.

ESPN revealed details of jury decision against NFL.

“The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. Because damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could ultimately be liable for $14.39 billion. The lawsuit affected 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States that paid for a package of out-of-market games from the 2011-2022 seasons on DirecTV,” ESPN wrote.

It’s time for NFL teams to get out the checkbook and dig in deeper, like the Texans, along with the other 31 franchises. If the debt triples to $14.39 billion, each franchise would be required to pay $450 million. While that amount isn’t cheap, franchises are billion-dollar businesses. Owners should be able to put up the money to end the league’s decade-long mistake.

Texans owner Cal McNair is reportedly worth around $3 billion. Of course, no one wants to be half a billion dollars in debt, but McNair should be able to handle the bill.