NFL released in $4.7 billion verdict in DirecTV Sunday Ticket antitrust case

DirecTV Sunday Ticket MDL promotion overview:

• Who: A federal jury has awarded approximately $4.7 billion in damages to two classes of DirecTV Sunday Ticket subscribers.
• Why: The ruling resolves 27 class action lawsuits alleging the NFL and DirecTV artificially inflated the costs of Sunday Ticket broadcast packages.
• Where: A jury returned the verdict in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

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A federal jury in California delivered a significant verdict against the National Football League and its teams on Thursday, awarding about $4.7 billion in damages to two classes of DirecTV Sunday Ticket subscribers.

The decision ends four-week trial period and nearly a decade of litigation in which plaintiffs in 27 class-action lawsuits alleged that the NFL and DirecTV unlawfully inflated the price of its Sunday Ticket broadcast package.

As of 2015, plaintiffs representing millions of Sunday Ticket subscribers in private homes and businesses accused the NFL and its teams of colluding with DirecTV to create an illegal monopoly by bundling all out-of-market matches so fans could not purchase a package featuring only one team.

The plaintiffs argued that this arrangement artificially inflated the price of a Sunday ticket and forced viewers to pay for matches during weeks when their favorite team was not playing.

During the trial, plaintiffs presented evidence that the NFL rejected offers from other outlets to make Sunday Ticket cheaper and more flexible. That included an offer from ESPN+ to reduce the price from hundreds of dollars to $70 and include a single-team package.

The verdict, which could be tripled under federal antitrust law, awarded more than $4.6 billion to the residential subscriber class and nearly $97 million to the commercial subscriber class of bars and restaurants. Both classes are subscribers who paid for the DirecTV Sunday Ticket package from 2011 through 2022.

The NFL will appeal the decision, the statement said

The NFL says it will appeal the decision.

“We are disappointed with today’s jury verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the league said in a statement released to multiple media outlets. “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 national distribution of our most popular games, complemented by a variety of additional options including RedZone, Sunday Tickets and NFL+, is by far the most fan-friendly distribution model across all of sports and entertainment.”

The judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez, still has the authority to overturn the jury’s verdict and rule in favor of the NFL.

The plaintiffs are represented by Ian B. Crosby, Marc M. Seltzer, Kalpana Srinivasan, Amanda Bonn, William C. Carmody, Seth Ard, Tyler Finn, and Ian M. Gore of Susman Godfrey LLP; Scott Martin, Sathya S. Gosselin, Christopher L. Lebsock, Samuel Maida, and Farhad Mirzadeh of Hausfeld LLP; and Howard Langer, Edward Diver, Peter Leckman, and Kevin Trainer of Langer Grogan & Diver PC.

The DirecTV MDL Sunday Ticket Is In re: Sunday ticket antitrust proceedings conducted by the National Football LeagueCase No. 2:15-ml-02668, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

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Read more about class action lawsuits and class action settlements: