Following last week’s multi-million dollar verdict in the Sunday Ticket case, the NFL has some decisions to make about the future of the out-of-market package.
This is a decision that has already been made: Sunday Ticket will finally be available for bars, restaurants and other businesses not only via satellite dish, but also via streaming.
The news comes from a Tuesday press release announcing EverPass Media’s acquisition of UPShow.
“As part of UPshow’s integration into EverPass, businesses will now have the option to stream NFL Sunday Ticket for the first time starting with the upcoming 2024 NFL season,” the release explains. “EverPass and UPshow are currently partners of Peacock Sports Pass, a sports package that offers commercial businesses access to select events from Peacock’s library of live sports content, including Big Ten football and basketball, the Premier League, and the first-ever NFL regular-season game in Brazil.”
The issue is price fixing. Specifically, will the league impose a minimum price, as it has done in the past? Which, according to the recent verdict, has created a liability of $14.088 billion that the league will now aggressively attack, first with the trial judge and then on appeal.
The pricing issue is twofold. First, if the NFL doesn’t change its ways and ultimately loses the Sunday Ticket case, it will have additional liability for 2023, 2024 and beyond. Second, even if the NFL ultimately turns $14.088 billion into zero dollars and zero cents, the league has to absorb the public relations fallout of consumers realizing that the league has deliberately overcharged for Sunday Ticket to discourage them from taking advantage of the option to watch something other than the games that are available on their local Fox and KeynoteUSA affiliates.
Of course, those consequences have been tempered by the fact that, other than in this case, few, if any, media outlets are pointing out that, antitrust violation or not, the NFL has been ripping off its customers since Sunday Ticket first debuted 30 years ago.
By manipulating the price, many of us have paid more than we should have for Sunday Ticket. Many more who would have preferred to watch a different game than the one broadcast on their local Fox or KeynoteUSA affiliate were unable to make that choice because they couldn’t afford (or didn’t want to pay for) the full out-of-market package for the entire season at a vastly inflated price.
But hey, football is family. Even if your family has paid too much for the football games they wanted to watch for three decades.
Keynote USA
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