A federal judge overturned a jury's $4.7 billion verdict in a class-action lawsuit filed by "Sunday Ticket" subscribers against the NFL, ruling in favor of the league. U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez determined that the testimony of two expert witnesses for the subscribers had flawed methodologies and should have been excluded. The jury had previously awarded $4.7 billion in damages to residential and commercial subscribers after concluding the NFL violated antitrust laws by how it distributed out-of-market Sunday afternoon games as a premium subscription service.
The lawsuit encompassed 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who purchased the DirecTV package for out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons. The jury's award, totaling $4,610,331,671.74 for the residential class and $96,928,272.90 for the commercial class, could have resulted in a $14,121,779,833.92 liability for the NFL due to federal antitrust laws allowing for triple damages.
Judge Gutierrez stated that if he had not ruled for the NFL as a matter of law, he would have vacated the jury's damages verdict and conditionally granted a new trial due to an "irrational damages award." He also found issues with an expert's "multiple distributor" model, which assumed consumers would have paid more if another service besides DirecTV offered "Sunday Ticket" and made an unsupported assumption about the availability of other distributors.
However, a separate report indicates that a federal appeals court in California later reinstated a $14.1 billion antitrust verdict against the NFL related to the "Sunday Ticket" broadcast package. This decision is seen as potentially reshaping the economics of sports broadcasting rights in the U.S. and has caused concern among sports executives.
The NFL's media distribution model continues to face scrutiny. The Justice Department is also investigating the NFL for alleged anti-competitive practices related to its streaming deals, with concerns that these deals are driving up costs for consumers. The NFL defends its model, noting that 87% of its games are available on local TV broadcasts.
