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NFL faces $4.7 billion in damages after jury rules 'Sunday Ticket' violated antitrust laws

NFL faces $4.7 billion in damages after jury rules 'Sunday Ticket' violated antitrust laws

 


LOS ANGELES – An 8-person jury ruled Thursday that the National Football League violated antitrust laws by licensing out-of-market Sunday afternoon football games on its “Sunday Ticket” broadcast package, awarding more than $4.7 billion to a class of millions of subscribers nationwide from 2011 to 2023.

The verdict came just a day after the end of a monthlong trial brought by plaintiffs’ attorneys at Susman Godfrey LLP, Hausfeld LLP and Langer Grogan & Diver PC. The jury deliberated for only “a few hours,” according to Susman Godfrey partner William C. Carmody, before returning a verdict awarding $4.7 billion to 2.4 million residential subscribers and $98 million to 48,000 commercial businesses. Under the federal antitrust law’s treble damages, the NFL could be liable for triple that amount in final damages.

“Justice has been served. It was a great day for consumers around the world,” Carmody said in a telephone interview.

In a joint statement from the winning attorneys, the attorneys said, “After many years, we are pleased with today’s outcome on behalf of the classes we represent. We thank the jury for their service. »

NFL legal counsel Wilkinson Stekloff LLP could not be reached for comment before publication deadline Thursday.

NFL Vice President of Communications Alex Riethmiller said in a statement: “We are disappointed with today's jury verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit. We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which includes all broadcast NFL games, free TV in participating team markets and national distribution of our most popular games, complemented 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.”

The 9-year-old case is far from over, with the NFL vowing to appeal.

“We will certainly challenge this decision because we believe the class action claims in this matter are baseless and without merit. We thank the jury for their time and service as well as for the advice and supervision of [U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez] throughout the trial,” Riethmiller wrote.

The NFL was accused of conspiring with free over-the-air television networks and DirecTV – the exclusive distributor of Sunday Ticket during class time – to illegally force fans to purchase the package by limiting out-of-market football games to a paid subscription service with artificially high prices. Re: National Football League Sunday Ticket Antitrust Litigation2:15-ml-02668 (CD Cal., filed Dec. 10, 2015).

The NFL argued that the league's network agreements are exempt from antitrust scrutiny under the Sports Broadcasting Act and that the plaintiffs' evidence failed to prove how they conspired with other networks to stifle competition. One of the NFL's main defenses at trial was that the Sunday Ticket was a free “premium product,” which allowed the league to charge a higher price for its “most avid fans.”


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