LOS ANGELES — A jury in U.S. District Court ruled Thursday the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service and has awarded nearly $4.7 billion in damages.
The jury ordered the league to pay $4 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class.
The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit claimed the league broke antitrust laws by selling its package of Sunday games at an inflated price. The subscribers also say the league restricted competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only on a satellite provider.
The jury of five men and three women deliberated for nearly five hours before reaching its decision.
“This case transcends football. This case matters,” plaintiffs attorney Bill Carmody said during Wednesday’s closing arguments. “It’s about justice. It’s about telling the 32 team owners who collectively own all the big TV rights, the most popular content in the history of TV – that’s what they have. It’s about telling them that even you cannot ignore the antitrust laws. Even you cannot collude to overcharge consumers. Even you can’t hide the truth and think you’re going to get away with it.”
The NFL was expected to appeal to the 9th Circuit and then possibly the Supreme Court.
The league maintained it has the right to sell “Sunday Ticket” under its antitrust exemption for broadcasting. The plaintiffs say that only covers over-the-air broadcasts and not pay TV.
“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the league 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.
“We will certainly contest this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are baseless and without merit.”
DirecTV had “Sunday Ticket” from its inception in 1994 through 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 the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco 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 the case could proceed as a class action.
RANDALL COBB and his family escaped a fire at their home in Nashville, Tennessee, this week. According to a social media post from Cobb’s wife, Aiyda, a Tesla charger “caught fire in the garage late last night and quickly spread. Aiyda also posted “we are lucky to be alive.”
“We got out of the house with nothing but the clothes on our back and no shoes on our feet,” she wrote.
Cobb, 33, played last season for the New York Jets and is a free agent wide receiver. He ranks fifth in Packers franchise history with 532 receptions, 10th in touchdown receptions (47) and 11th in receiving yards (6,316).
The Cobbs have three young sons. Cobb, whose best years were with Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, said he was able to run back into the house to save the family’s dog, Louie.
“I can’t get the image of the brave firefighter getting into position out of my head; he didn’t even have water to shoot yet. I truly thought the cars were going to explode and that we would lose him to this tragedy. He is a true hero,” Cobb wrote on social media. “Unfortunately we don’t know how much, if anything, will be salvageable, but this has been a reminder that nothing is more important than the health of our family.
“We are grateful for our incredible community in Nashville, and the support from our close friends that have given us a temporary roof over our heads and shoulders to lean on.”
The post includes photos of burned cars and extensive fire damage to the garage and surrounding areas of the home.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Modify your screen name
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.