NFL to pay $4 billion in 'Sunday Ticket' antitrust case, jury rules
A jury reached a verdict in the long-running "NFL Sunday Ticket" antitrust lawsuit. The suit centered around the strategies the NFL uses as it relates to the distribution of its television broadcasts.
A group of plaintiffs who purchased the broadcast package received a $4.7 billion judgment from the jury. Meanwhile, a separate group of bar owners were awarded $96 million in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California on Thursday.
Per federal antitrust law, the total damages could escalate and potentially surpass the $14 billion threshold.
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The league released a statement, saying it was "disappointed" by the verdict.
"We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class-action lawsuit," the NFL said in a statement. "We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment."
The NFL also said it will file an appeal.
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Prior to YouTube TV winning the rights to Sunday Ticket, the broadcast package was held by DirecTV. The service broadcasts the league's out-of-market games.
A San Francisco sports bar initially filed a lawsuit in 2015, alleging the NFL broke antitrust law by only presenting the league's out-of-market games in a bundle instead of offering a one-team package. The case was dismissed in 2017, but it was reinstated around two years later.
It was later designated as a class-action lawsuit and included millions of bars, restaurants and subscribers.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was called as a witness and ended up being on the stand for almost four hours. During his lengthy testimony in federal court this month, Goodell defended the league's broadcast model and described "Sunday Ticket" as a "premium product."
"We have been clear throughout that it is a premium product, not just on pricing but quality," Goodell said during cross-examination. "Fans make that choice whether they wanted it or not. I'm sure there were fans who said it was too costly."
The suit also alleged the league inflated the price of its "NFL Sunday Ticket" package. On YouTube TV, the package is currently available for $349 per year.
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According to Front Office Sports, the NFL previously declined a proposal that could have dropped the offering for the 2023 season to $70. Additional information during the trial revealed that single-team packages were also included in the proposal. However, the deal would have required the NFL to relinquish control of the service.