NFL fined more than $4.7 billion in Sunday Ticket antitrust case, league to appeal decision

A federal judge in Los Angeles has ordered the NFL to pay injured fans $4.7 billion after finding that the league conspired with DirecTV and its network partners to raise the price of its exclusive Sunday Ticket package for games.

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 the jury’s verdict Thursday is upheld, the NFL could be forced to pay more than $14 billion because federal antitrust law allows for triple 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,” the NFL 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, supplemented 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. We thank the jury for its time and service and for Judge Gutierrez’s guidance and supervision throughout the process.”

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 its 28-year stake in Sunday Ticket for consumers when Google struck a seven-year deal with the NFL to sell the package through YouTube. Sunday Ticket currently includes all out-of-market NFL Sunday regular-season games broadcast by Fox and CBS.

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

The lawsuit revealed that Disney’s ESPN offered to acquire the rights to Sunday Ticket beginning with the 2023-24 season, which would have meant a package price of $70 per season to watch all Sunday games out of market for single teams. YouTube’s Sunday Ticket is priced at $349 per season (if purchased as part of a YouTube TV package) or $449 per season (if purchased as a standalone package).

The class action lawsuit was brought by all individuals and companies who purchased Sunday Ticket from DirecTV between June 17, 2011 and February 7, 2023.

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