NFL faces jury verdict in ‘Sunday Ticket’ antitrust lawsuit that could reach $14.1 billion

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CNN
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A jury on Thursday ordered the NFL to pay more than $4.7 billion for antitrust violations surrounding its “Sunday Ticket” package, which allows fans to watch games outside their home markets but requires them to purchase access to a set of matches to do so.

Because of the nature of the case as an antitrust case, the verdict could be tripled if upheld, requiring the NFL to pay $14.1 billion in damages. But the league, the most popular source of television programming in the United States, has already vowed to appeal.

The verdict is severe enough that if it survives appeal, it would be a financial blow to even the richest, most popular and most profitable sport in America. The NFL had annual revenues of more than $18 billion last year, according to estimates, and Commissioner Roger Goodell has set a goal of $25 billion in annual revenues by 2027. Tariffs are the main driver of that revenue stream, but the ruling could upend deals and other revenues in professional sports, changing the way teams make money.

The case, filed in 2015, focused on NFL games that air out of local markets and are not carried nationally on other networks. Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit argued that by limiting the broadcast of these “out of market” games to the “Sunday Ticket” package, the NFL is forcing customers who want to watch only one team or a small group of teams to pay more.

“Given the relatively low cost of Internet streaming and satellite and cable broadcasting, each team acting independently could offer its games at a competitive price to anyone in the country who wanted to watch that particular team,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers argued in a filing. “Instead, however, the teams have all forgone that option in favor of creating a more lucrative monopoly.”

Bill Carmody, the lead attorney in the case, told CNN that the Los Angeles jury reached its decision in less than two hours.

“Justice has been served and it was a great day for consumers around the world,” he said. “It was a really decisive victory.”

During oral arguments, the plaintiffs argued that fans of specific teams should be able to buy packages for only the games they want to watch, not all of the league’s out-of-market games. But the jury did not rule on whether that would happen now. It only ruled on the amount of damages.

“I don’t know, but I certainly hope so,” Carmody said when asked whether individual or team packages would now be offered. “That’s a matter the court will deal with separately.”

The NFL has argued that it provides the best value for its fans to watch a wide selection of games for free on broadcast networks, and other games at no additional cost to those with cable services, satellite or streaming.

“We are disappointed with today’s jury verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action,” the NFL said in a statement Thursday. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features every NFL game broadcast live for free in participating teams’ markets and national distribution of our most popular games … is by far the most fan-friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment. We will certainly challenge this decision because we believe the class actions in this case are without merit and without merit.”

The case centered on the package as it was offered by DirecTV, which held exclusivity on the Sunday Ticket package until it lost it to Google-owned YouTube TV at the start of last season, which the Wall Street Journal estimates cost $2 billion a year. YouTube charges fans $449 a year for the package.

CNN’s Oliver Darcy contributed reporting.