Mike Scarcella
(Reuters) – The National Football League must pay more than $4.7 billion in a class-action settlement for overcharging subscribers of its “Sunday Ticket” telecasts, a California federal jury said on Thursday.
A jury in Los Angeles agreed with the plaintiffs that the NFL conspired with its member teams to artificially inflate the price of Sunday Ticket to millions of residential and commercial subscribers.
The jury awarded $4.6 billion to the residential class and $96 million to commercial subscribers such as bars and restaurants, according to the plaintiffs’ attorney.
Under US antitrust law, a judge could award treble damages, bringing the total award to more than $14 billion.
The NFL said in a statement that it was disappointed with the jury’s verdict. “We will certainly challenge this decision as we believe the class action lawsuits in this case are frivolous and without merit,” the statement said.
Earlier this week, the NFL asked the court to rule in favor of the league and its teams under the law, which could overturn the verdict.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a statement Thursday: “We are pleased with today’s outcome on behalf of the classes we represent.”
The trial, which began June 5, caps more than a decade of litigation over the “Sunday Ticket” TV shows.
Subscribers have accused the NFL of using agreements with broadcast partners to maintain control over distribution, allowing DirecTV to charge artificially higher prices as the former sole distributor of “Sunday Ticket.”
A home subscription to “Sunday Ticket,” which is the only streaming option for fans wanting to watch out-of-market games, now costs a whopping $449 through its current distributor, Google YouTube. DirecTV and Google were not defendants in the lawsuit.
DirecTV is owned by AT&T (NYSE:) and Google is owned by Alphabet (NASDAQ:).
The plaintiffs argued that Sunday Ticket prices were inflated to limit subscriptions and protect the distribution rights that CBS and Fox paid to broadcast games in local markets.
The NFL denied any wrongdoing and argued that “Sunday Ticket” is a “premium” product that expands viewer access to games that are already broadcast for free on local networks.
The plaintiffs are DirecTV subscribers who purchased NFL Sunday Ticket between June 2011 and February 2023. The case involves at least 2.4 million residential customers and 48,000 commercial subscribers such as bars and restaurants, according to court records.