A federal judge on Thursday afternoon overturned the jury’s verdict in the NFL’s Sunday Ticket lawsuit, a major victory for the league heading into the 2024 season.
A jury in Los Angeles ruled earlier this summer that the league violated federal antitrust laws by selling the “Sunday Ticket” package only on DirectTV at an inflated price, potentially exposing the league to more than $14 billion in damages.
BREAKING: A federal district judge has overturned the jury verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket case
— Daniel Kaplan (@KaplanSportsBiz) August 1, 2024
The verdict had been in doubt in recent days after U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez, who oversaw the case, said Wednesday that the jury had not followed his instructions in determining damages, The Associated Press reported. The jury found the NFL liable for more than $4.6 billion in damages to the residential class and nearly $97 million in damages to the commercial class, though Gutierrez said they used their own calculations in determining those totals. Under federal antitrust laws, the damage amounts can be tripled — which could have left the NFL liable for more than $14 billion.
Earlier this year, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the NFL, alleging that it violated antitrust laws restricting competition in an effort to protect its deals with Fox and CBS for Sunday afternoon games each season. DirectTV had Sunday Ticket exclusively from 1994-2022, and then YouTube TV took over for the 2023 season. The package normally costs $349 per season.
The lawsuit alleged that the NFL artificially inflated the price of Sunday Ticket to profit from fans who wanted to watch their favorite team play in out-of-market games and from bars that wanted to draw customers on game days. This, the lawsuit alleged, resulted in most fans being priced out and forced to watch only the local game.
The NFL argued in the lawsuit that Sunday Ticket was simply a premium service, and that the service came at a premium price.
“This case is about choice,” NFL attorney Beth Wilkinson told the jury during the trial. “This is a valuable, premium product. Think of all the choices that fans have? We want as many people as possible to watch the free broadcasts.”
The plaintiffs in the case initially sought $7 billion in damages. After the verdict was announced, the NFL said it planned to appeal, arguing the damages were “excessive and unreasonable.”
While this legal battle is likely far from over, the NFL did score a major legal victory just before the start of the first exhibition game of the 2024 season in Canton, Ohio.
