After nearly a full day of deliberations that began on Wednesday and ended on Thursday, a jury in a federal class action lawsuit against the National Football League (NFL) and all 32 member teams involved in the “Sunday Ticket” service returned a verdict against the league.
And that’s a ruling with a lot of zeros.
The jury found that the NFL and its affiliated teams violated federal antitrust laws with DirecTV’s “Sunday Ticket” packages, which required out-of-market fans to purchase the service if they wanted to watch their favorite teams play.
The jury on Thursday returned verdicts in favor of both groups of plaintiffs: As for the commercial plaintiffs (representing the bars, restaurants and taverns that purchased the “Sunday Ticket” as a way to draw customers on NFL Sundays), the jury awarded the NFL and its affiliated teams $96 million in damages.
As for the residential class of plaintiffs (individuals who purchased “Sunday Ticket” packages for use at home), the court ordered the NFL and its affiliated teams to pay $4.7 billion in damages.
Under federal antitrust lawsThe damages have tripled, meaning the NFL will have to pay more than $14 billion in damages.
The plaintiffs, through their lawyers, allege a “conspiracy” that resulted in higher prices for consumers. First, the teams ceded television rights to their games to the league and gave the NFL “ExclusiveThe right to enter into broadcasting agreements.
Next, plaintiffs allege that the NFL entered into agreements with its broadcast partners, specifically: CBS and Fox – To create a “single telecast” of every Sunday afternoon NFL game. According to the plaintiffs’ theory of the case, the agreement gives these networks “exclusive” rights to broadcast a limited number of games over the air, free of charge.
The third prong of the conspiracy, according to the plaintiffs, is that the league would exclusively (there’s that word again) license the copyrights to those broadcasts to DirecTV, which would then bundle them with NFL Sunday Ticket, allowing out-of-market fans who wanted to watch their favorite teams play “to buy NFL Sunday Ticket.”Premium Offers“NFL Sunday Ticket’s “.
As a result, according to the plaintiffs, DirecTV was able to “charge uncompetitive prices for Sunday Ticket because fans who did not want to pay for Sunday Ticket could not, for example, purchase out-of-market games individually or by team.” The plaintiffs argue that without this agreement (which the plaintiffs call a “conspiracy”), fans would have been able to watch all NFL games at “lower prices.”
The NFL said in a statement that it intends to appeal the ruling.
What does this mean for the league and its fans?
Beyond the headline-grabbing amount, many analysts and experts theorize that the decision paves the way for single-team packages. For example, the residential class of plaintiffs who purchased “Sunday Tickets” for use at home are often fans of out-of-market NFL teams. For example, New England Patriots Fan living in Baltimore, Maryland. The only way to attend most Patriots games is to buy a “Sunday Ticket.”
Now, those fans could theoretically have access to a “Patriots Package” as part of the “Sunday Ticket.”
For commercial plaintiffs, this could open the door to a competitive service alongside “Sunday Ticket,” allowing these venues to watch broadcasts of NFL games at a lower price.
More information on the case, including the league’s appeal and post-trial motions, is expected to emerge in the coming days and weeks.
