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A federal jury in L.A. ordered the NFL to pay aggrieved sports fans a total of $4.7 billion after finding the league conspired with DirecTV and network partners to increase the price of the exclusive Sunday Ticket games package.
The class-action lawsuit, originally filed in 2015, represented more than 2.4 million residential subscribers and more than 48,000 restaurants, bars and other commercial establishments that purchased Sunday Ticket when it was still with DirecTV. The jury awarded consumers represented in the class-action suit damages of $4.7 billion, while the class comprising commercial locations was awarded $96 million.
If the jury’s verdict Thursday is upheld, the NFL could find itself forced to pay more than $14 billion, as federal antitrust law allows for triple the monetary damages in such cases. The plaintiffs had been seeking as much as $7 billion in damages.
The NFL plans to appeal the verdict. The league has insisted that it has “the most-friendly distribution model” in the sports industry.
“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” an NFL rep said in a statement, “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan-friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment. We thank the jury for their time and service and for the guidance and oversight from Judge Gutierrez throughout the trial.”
DirecTV reps did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Until the 2023-24 NFL season, DirecTV had been the distribution partner for Sunday Ticket since 1994. DirecTV lost its 28-year hold on Sunday Ticket for consumers when Google secured a seven-year deal with the NFL to sell the package via YouTube. Currently, Sunday Ticket includes all out-of-market Sunday regular-season NFL games that are broadcast on Fox and CBS.
During the trial, the NFL argued that Sunday Ticket was exempt from antitrust enforcement under a 1961 provision by Congress that allowed the league to make broadcasting agreements with networks on behalf of participating teams. However, the plaintiffs alleged that carve-out only covered over-the-air broadcast TV, not subscription-based services. In addition, evidence presented at trial indicated Fox and CBS wanted the NFL to charge premium prices for Sunday Ticket so it wouldn’t eat into their broadcast TV ratings.
The trial revealed that Disney’s ESPN had offered to acquire Sunday Ticket rights starting with the 2023-24 season that would have priced the package at $70 per season to watch all Sunday out-of-market games for single teams. YouTube’s Sunday Ticket pricing is $349 per season (if purchased in a bundle with YouTube TV) or $449 per season (if purchased as a stand-alone package).
The class-action groups in the case include any individuals and businesses that bought Sunday Ticket from June 17, 2011, to Feb. 7, 2023, from DirecTV.