A federal judge has overturned a jury’s $4.7 billion verdict in the class-action lawsuit filed by “Sunday Ticket” subscribers against the NFL, granting judgment in favor of the NFL.
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled on Thursday that the methodologies used by two expert witnesses for the plaintiffs were flawed and should not have been admitted in court.
“Without the testimonies of Dr. [Daniel] Rascher and Dr. [John] Zona, no reasonable jury could have found class-wide injury or damages,” Gutierrez wrote at the end of his 16-page ruling.
On June 27, a jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to residential and commercial subscribers after finding that the NFL had violated antitrust laws by distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games through a premium subscription service.
The lawsuit involved 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who had paid for DirecTV’s out-of-market game package from the 2011 through 2022 seasons.
The jury, consisting of five men and three women, found the NFL 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).
Under federal antitrust laws, the damages could have been tripled, potentially making the NFL liable for $14,121,779,833.92.
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This is not the first time the NFL has won a judgment as a matter of law in this case, which has been ongoing since 2015.
In 2017, U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell dismissed the lawsuit, ruling in favor of the NFL. She stated that “Sunday Ticket” did not reduce the output of NFL games and that even if DirecTV charged inflated prices, this alone did not constitute harm to competition since DirecTV had to negotiate with the NFL to carry the package.
However, in 2019, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the case, allowing it to proceed once more.
With the latest ruling, it is likely that the plaintiffs will appeal again to the 9th Circuit. The ongoing legal battle underscores the complexities of antitrust laws and the challenges of proving class-wide injury and damages in such cases.
