NFL must pay $4.7bn in damages after Sunday Ticket broadcast lawsuit

A jury in U.S. District Court ruled Thursday that the NFL violated antitrust laws by distributing excessive Sunday afternoon games through a premium subscription service and 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. Under federal antitrust law, the amount will rise to $12.3 billion.

The lawsuit covers 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for DirecTV’s out-of-market games package from the 2011 through 2022 seasons. The lawsuit alleges the league violated antitrust laws by selling its Sunday ticket package at an inflated price. Subscribers also say the league is restricting competition by offering Sunday Ticket only through a satellite provider.

The jury, made up of five men and three women, deliberated for almost five hours before reaching a decision.

“This matter transcends football. This case matters,” prosecutors’ 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 TV rights the most popular content in TV history – that’s what they’ve got. It’s about telling them that even you can’t ignore antitrust laws. Even you can’t conspire to overcharge consumers. Even you can’t hide the truth and think you can get away with it.”

The NFL said it would appeal the verdict. That appeal would go to the Ninth Circuit and then possibly to the Supreme Court.

The league has maintained that it has the right to sell Sunday Ticket under its antitrust exemption for broadcasting. The plaintiffs say that applies only to over-the-air broadcasts, not pay TV.

“We are disappointed with today’s jury verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the league said in a statement. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy of airing all NFL games on free over-the-air television in our participating teams’ markets and national distribution of our most popular games, complemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan-friendly distribution model in sports and entertainment.”

“We will certainly appeal this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are without merit 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 San Francisco sports bar Mucky Duck, but was dismissed in 2017. Two years later, the nine-judge U.S. Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over California and eight other states, resumed the case.