NFL Sunday Ticket lawsuit results in $4.7BILLION settlement for plaintiffs after judge ruled in favor of 2.4million plaintiffs accusing league of violating antitrust laws
A federal judge in California has ordered the NFL to pay approximately $4.7 billion in a class action lawsuit after ruling in favor of Sunday Ticket subscribers on Thursday.
The NFL is appealing the decision.
The lawsuit involved 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for the package of out-of-market matches from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit alleged that the league violated antitrust laws by selling its package of Sunday games at an inflated price. The subscribers also say the league limited competition by only offering “Sunday Ticket” 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 is important,” 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 that the most popular content in TV history is what they have. 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.’
Some NFL fans who subscribe to DirecTV have complained about the network’s advertisements that all NFL games can be watched on the service
The NFL was expected to appeal to the 9th 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 the sports and entertainment space.
“We will certainly appeal this decision as we believe the claims in this case are unfounded 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 9th US 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.