The National Football League is scheduled to go on trial in Los Angeles on Wednesday where jurors will decide whether the league violated antitrust laws and whether it should pay billions of dollars in damages over its airing of “Sunday Ticket.”
Subscribers to DirecTV’s “Sunday Ticket” television coverage filed a federal class action lawsuit in 2015, alleging that the NFL used its contracts with broadcast partners to monopolise distribution, allowing DirecTV to charge exorbitant fees as the exclusive streamer of out-of-market games.
The plaintiffs, representing millions of home viewers and commercial subscribers such as restaurants and bars, are asking a jury to find the NFL liable and award $7 billion in damages.
The damages in the antitrust lawsuit could be tripled, raising the total to as much as $21 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported.
The NFL, meanwhile, has denied any wrongdoing and said the amount of damages it would award is “only speculation.” Reuters reported on Tuesday. Lawyers for the plaintiffs and the NFL did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Only the NFL and its teams are in court; a related lawsuit against DirecTV has been put on hold pending arbitration.
The trial, taking place in Los Angeles, began with jury selection on Wednesday and is expected to last several weeks, with U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez presiding.
The trial could become a talking point if current and former NFL executives, including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, are called to testify.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs, who bought NFL “Sunday Ticket” tickets between June 2011 and February 2023, are expected to argue that the deal is a “premium” product that expands, not limits, access to televised games, according to Reuters.
If the lawyers can convince a jury to find the NFL liable and award damages, the second phase of the trial would begin and focus on an injunction that could force changes to Sunday Ticket’s distribution model, according to Reuters.
Nearly a decade after the lawsuit was filed, “Sunday Ticket” was sold by DirecTV, which had held the rights since 1994, to Google’s YouTubeTV in 2022 for $2 billion.
YouTube, which is not a defendant, has to some extent democratized the “Sunday Ticket” game in its residential subscriber deals.
The streaming service is offering the game for $449 per year for non-YouTubeTV subscribers. For YouTubeTV subscribers, the cost is $349 per year.
However, DirectTV will continue to offer its “Sunday Ticket” to commercial businesses such as bars, restaurants and hotels.
