Judge overturns $ 4.7B NFL Sunday Ticket verdict
A federal jury in California delivered a significant verdict against the National Football League and its teams , awarding roughly $ 4.7 billion in damages to two classes of DirecTV Sunday Ticket subscribers .
The decision concludes a four-week trial and nearly a decade of litigation in which plaintiffs from 27 class action lawsuits claimed the NFL and DirecTV unlawfully inflated the price of the Sunday Ticket broadcast package .
Beginning in 2015 , plaintiffs representing millions of residential and commercial Sunday Ticket subscribers accused the NFL and its teams of conspiring with DirecTV to create an illegal monopoly by bundling all out-ofmarket games so fans could not buy a one-team package .
Plaintiffs argued this setup artificially inflated the price of Sunday Ticket and forced viewers to pay for games during weeks when their preferred team wasn ’ t playing .
During the trial , plaintiffs presented evidence that the NFL declined bids from other outlets that wanted to make Sunday Ticket cheaper and more flexible . This included a bid from ESPN + to lower the price from hundreds of dollars to $ 70 and include a single-team package .
The verdict , which could be tripled under federal antitrust law , awarded more than $ 4.6 billion to a class of residential subscribers and nearly $ 97 million to a class of commercial subscribers comprised of bars and restaurants . Both classes are subscribers who paid for the DirecTV Sunday Ticket package from 2011 through 2022 .
The NFL says it would appeal the decision .
“ We are disappointed with the jury ’ s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit ,” the league says in a statement given to multiple media outlets . “ We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy , which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games , supplemented 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 judge overseeing the case , U . S . District Judge Philip Gutierrez , still has the power to overturn the jury verdict and rule in favor of the NFL .
NCAA settles NIL class action for $ 2.78B , allows revenue sharing with athletes
A group of NCAA athletes requested multiple class certifications for their complaint challenging the association ’ s name , image and likeness ( NIL ) restrictions .
“ Defendants have collectively agreed to not share revenues with college athletes to compensate them for using their NILs to obtain immensely lucrative broadcast deals ,” the NCAA class action states .
The NCAA athletes argue that their claims would best be resolved on a classwide basis while asking a California federal judge to certify classes separately consisting of NCAA Division I basketball , football and other athletes . The plaintiffs also seek class certification for all college athletes who will or have competed on any NCAA Division I athletic team since June 15 , 2020 .
“ The challenged NIL restraints apply uniformly to all members of the proposed classes ,” the NCAA class action states .
The plaintiffs filed the consolidated complaint against the NCAA , which followed other complaints , in July 2021 and sought to end the organization ’ s NIL rules for its college athletes , Law360 reports .
The NCAA athletes argue that the NIL restrictions prevent top-performing college athletes from profiting off of the publicity they have as top athletes while attending school .
The NCAA suspended the majority of its NIL restrictions in July 2021 after some states passed new laws that would allow college athletes to profit off of their NIL in spite of NCAA rules stating otherwise , Law360 reports .
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