Initially filed in 2015, a California judge certified a class action antitrust lawsuit from subscribers and commercial establishments who subscribed to NFL “Sunday Ticket” in early 2023.
On Friday, that lawsuit finally got underway.
The crux of the lawsuit is that the NFL broke antitrust law when it allowed DirecTV to exclusively sell the “Sunday Ticket” package of out-of-market Sunday afternoon games from CBS and Fox at what it claims is an inflated price while restricting competition.
DirecTV hosted “NFL Sunday Ticket” from 1994 to 2022 and it has been on YouTubeTV since then with that deal running through 2029.
The class-action lawsuit includes 2.45 million commercial and residential subscribers from 2012 to 2022 and is seeking $7.1 billion in damages. Under federal rules, damages are tripled in these cases, so the NFL could potentially be found liable for $21 billion ($656.25 million per team, if you will).
The league says “Sunday Ticket” is a premium add-on for some fans and notes that all games for local teams are available on local broadcast networks.
“The case is about choice. This is a valuable, premium product. Think about all the choices available to fans. We want as many people as possible to watch the free broadcasts,” said attorney Beth Wilkinson. “The NFL always wanted ‘Sunday Ticket’ to be an additional package. That is how it is was designed since its inception.”
Among those expected to testify at the trial are NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who is a longtime member of the NFL broadcast committee.
It’s not very often that the NFL has a legal entanglement that gets all the way to this point, so there’s going to be a ton of attention paid to what is said and the kinds of documentation shown during the trial. If things do go against the NFL here, we could see the price of “Sunday Ticket” change dramatically, in favor of fans.