Federal judge overturns $4.7 billion NFL ‘Sunday Ticket’ verdict

In June, a jury issued a verdict in the NFL’s long-running “Sunday Ticket” antitrust trial, in which the league was ordered to pay a group of plaintiffs $4.7 billion. But U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled Thursday that the testimony of two of the plaintiffs was flawed.

“(The) court does not believe it would be unreasonable for a juror to find that a conspiracy existed that unreasonably restrained trade,” the judge wrote. There was evidence in the record — even without the testimony … to support a reasonable jury finding of unreasonable restraint of trade.”

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The two plaintiffs in question, Dr. Daniel Rascher and Dr. John Yona, argued that the league could have sold the “Sunday Ticket” “other than by pooling the rights of 32 teams and selling them to a single distributor,” Awful Announcing notes.

However, the judge found that the arguments for making the games free on cable television were insufficient and “economically irrational.”

“The Court finds that the amount of damages awarded by the jury was not based on ‘evidence and reasonable inferences,’ but rather on ‘guesswork and speculation,’” Gutierrez wrote, according to Front Office Sports.

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A San Francisco sports bar filed a lawsuit in 2015 alleging that the NFL violated antitrust laws by showing out-of-market league games in a package instead of offering a single-team package. The case was dismissed in 2017 but reinstated about two years later.

It was later declared a class action lawsuit and covered millions of bars, restaurants and subscribers.

The lawsuit also accuses the league of overpricing the “Sunday Ticket” package. The package is currently available on YouTube TV for $349 per year.

The NFL’s settlement could have been nearly $14 billion because damages can be tripled under federal antitrust law.

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“We are grateful for today’s ruling in the Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the NFL said in a statement. “We believe the NFL’s media distribution model provides our fans with a variety of options to follow the game they love, including local broadcasts of every game on free over-the-air television. We thank Judge Gutierrez for his time and consideration of this matter and look forward to an exciting 2024 NFL season.”

Chantz Martin of Fox Business assisted in preparing this report.

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