Judge overturns ‘Sunday Ticket’ ruling, NFL rules: Reports

A federal judge has overturned a ruling in a class-action lawsuit against the NFL filed on behalf of Sunday Ticket subscribers, multiple reports said Thursday. The latest decision marks a victory for the league.

In June, a jury in U.S. District Court ordered the NFL to pay billions of dollars in damages to Sunday Ticket subscribers. The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to individual subscribers and $96 million in damages to commercial subscribers.

However, District Judge Philip Gutierrez, who presided over the case, said Wednesday that the jury did not follow his instructions when determining the amount of damages, the Associated Press reported.

Gutierrez has previously said that damages cannot be “based on conjecture or speculation” and that “plaintiffs must prove the validity of each of the assumptions on which the damages calculation is based,” AP reported.

“We are grateful for today’s resolution of the Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the NFL said in a statement Thursday, according to multiple reports. “We believe the NFL’s media distribution model provides our fans with a range 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.”

The lawsuit, filed nine years ago, accused the NFL of violating antitrust laws. NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers accused the league, its teams and network partners of working together to sell the sports package outside the market at an inflated price and limit competition

The NFL has previously said it will “contest” the decision.

According to the AP, the league argued that it could sell the package to watch the games under the broadcast antitrust exception, while the plaintiffs argued that the exemption only applies to over-the-air broadcasts, not pay TV.

Hearings began in the trial in June, with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones testifying.

The original complaint was filed on behalf of the Mucky Duck bar in San Francisco. A district judge ruled last year that the case could proceed as a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 2.4 million individual subscribers and 48,000 businesses that purchased the package between June 17, 2011, and Feb. 7, 2023, according to the AP.

Named as defendants in the case are the NFL, its teams and its network partners: DirecTV, CBS, ESPN and Fox.

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