A federal judge has reversed a jury’s $4.7 billion verdict in the class-action lawsuit brought by “Sunday Ticket” subscribers against the NFL, granting judgment in favor of the NFL.
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez issued his ruling on Thursday, determining that the testimony from two witnesses representing the subscribers was flawed in methodology and should have been excluded from consideration.
“Without the testimonies of Dr. (Daniel) Rascher and Dr. (John) Zona, no reasonable jury could have found class-wide injury or damages,” Gutierrez stated in his 16-page ruling.
On June 27, the jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to both residential and commercial subscribers, concluding that the NFL violated antitrust laws in its distribution of out-of-market Sunday afternoon games through a premium subscription service.
The lawsuit encompassed 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the U.S. that purchased the package via DirecTV for out-of-market games spanning the 2011 through 2022 seasons.
The jury determined the NFL was liable for $4,610,331,671.74 in damages to the residential class (home subscribers) and $96,928,272.90 in damages to the commercial class (business subscribers).
Given that damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could have faced potential liability exceeding $14 billion.
This ruling is not the NFL’s first legal victory in this case, which dates back to 2015. In 2017, U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell dismissed the lawsuit, ruling in favor of the NFL on the grounds that “Sunday Ticket” did not reduce the output of NFL games. She also noted that while DirecTV might have charged inflated prices, this alone did not demonstrate harm to competition, as it had to negotiate with the NFL to offer the package.
However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the case two years later.
It is anticipated that the plaintiffs will appeal the latest ruling to the 9th Circuit.
