NFL’s $4.7B Loss in ‘Sunday Ticket’ Trial Overturned
Judge throws out the $4.7 billion NFL ‘Sunday Ticket’ verdict
The NFL’s “Sunday Ticket” package, which allowed fans to watch games outside of their home markets but required them to purchase access to a bundle of games, was found to have violated antitrust laws by a jury that ordered the NFL to pay more than $4.7 billion. The verdict was overturned by a judge in California.
In June, the league, the most watched television show in the United States, promised to appeal the verdict.
The NFL expressed its gratitude for the ruling in a statement.
According to the statement, “We believe that the NFL’s media distribution model provides our fans with an array of options to follow the game they love,” including free over-the-air local broadcasts of every game.
US District Judge Philip Gutierrez raised concerns regarding the trial’s expert witnesses in a court filing on Thursday.
“The Court agrees that Dr. Rascher’s and Dr. Zona’s testimony should be excluded because of their flawed methods.” Additionally, “Judgment as a matter of law for the Defendants is appropriate because there was no other support for the class-wide injury and damages elements of Plaintiffs’… claims,” the filing stated.
Additionally, the filing stated, “The Court finds that the jury’s damages awards were more akin to ‘guesswork or speculation,'” rather than “evidence and reasonable inferences.”
The NFL’s package of games outside of a local market that are not shown nationally on other networks was the focus of the case, which was first brought in 2015. The plaintiffs’ attorneys in the class action lawsuit argued that the NFL is forcing customers who only want to watch one team or a small group of teams to pay more by restricting broadcasts of those “out-of-market” games to the “Sunday Ticket” package.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys argued in a filing, “Given the relatively low cost of internet streaming, satellite, and cable television carriage, each team acting independently would offer their games at a competitive price to anyone in the country who wanted to watch that particular team.” The teams, on the other hand, have all opted to create a more lucrative monopoly instead.
The NFL would have been liable for $14.1 billion in damages if the verdict had been upheld because the case was an anti-trust matter.
