June 27, 2024, 5:01 p.m. (US Eastern Time)
LOS ANGELES — A jury in U.S. District Court ruled Thursday that the NFL violated antitrust laws by distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service and awarded more than $4.7 billion in damages.
The jury ordered the league to pay $4.7 billion in residential damages and $96 million in commercial damages.
The NFL said in a statement that it will appeal the verdict.
“We are disappointed with today’s jury verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit. We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which includes all NFL Games broadcast on free broadcast television in participating teams’ markets and “National distribution of our most popular games, complemented by many additional options such as RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan-friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment,” the league said.
“We will certainly challenge this decision, as we believe the class action claims in this case are without merit and without foundation. We thank the jury for their time and service, and for Judge (Philip) Gutierrez’s guidance and oversight throughout the trial.”
Post-trial motions will be heard July 31, including one to vacate the verdict. If the verdict is not vacated, the NFL will appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court.
The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for the out-of-market game package from the 2011 to 2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit claimed that the league violated antitrust laws by selling its Sunday game package at an inflated price. Subscribers also say the league restricted competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only on one satellite provider.
The jury of five men and three women deliberated for nearly five hours before reaching a decision.
“This case transcends football. This case matters,” plaintiffs’ attorney Bill Carmody said during closing arguments Wednesday. “It’s about justice. It’s about telling the 32 team owners who collectively own all the major television rights, the most popular content in the history of television, that that’s what they have. It’s about telling them that neither “Not even you can ignore antitrust laws. Not even you can collude to overcharge consumers. Not even you can hide the truth and think you will get away with it.”
The league maintained that it has the right to sell “Sunday Ticket” under its antitrust exemption for broadcasts. The plaintiffs claim that this covers only over-the-air broadcasts and not pay television.
DirecTV had “Sunday Ticket” from its inception in 1994 until 2022. The league signed a seven-year deal with Google’s YouTube TV that began with the 2023 season.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 by San Francisco sports bar Mucky Duck, but was dismissed in 2017. Two years later, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over California and eight other states, reinstated the case. Gutierrez ruled last year that the case could proceed as a class action.
KeynoteUSA’s Kevin Seifert and The KeynoteUSA contributed to this report.
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