Jury Rules NFL Violated Antitrust Laws in 'Sunday Ticket' Case and Awards $4.7 Billion in Damages.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury in U.S. District Court ruled Thursday the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription services and has awarded nearly $4.7 billion in damages.
The jury ordered the league to pay $4 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class.
The NFL is expected to appeal to the 9th Circuit and then possibly the Supreme Court.
“This case transcends football. This case matters,” plaintiffs attorney Bill Carmody said during Wednesday's closing arguments. “It’s about justice. It’s about telling the 32 team owners who collectively own all the big TV rights, the most popular content in the history of TV — that’s what they have. It’s about telling them that even you cannot ignore the antitrust laws. Even you cannot collude to overcharge consumers. Even you can’t hide the truth and think you’re going to get away with it.”
The league maintained it has the right to sell “Sunday Ticket” under its antitrust exemption for broadcasting. The plaintiffs say that only covers over-the-air broadcasts and not pay TV.
Originally Posted by Regime:
Yeah I have to have it now living in DC. We will get east coast crap over chiefs unless they are playing a good team.
I noticed that a lot last season, the first year in forever that I went without Sunday Ticket, mainly because previously I was paying several hundred dollars to be able to watch Chiefs games when they carried in Chicago pretty much every weekend. But as my luck would have it, last season was different, and I missed four or five games. I may go ahead and bite the ST bullet again this year.
I think a part of it is league-wide Chiefs fatigue, or just flat out hatred. There were a couple of times when the game shown instead of KC v. whoever wasn't any more competitive or compelling.
As always, it is infuriating that anybody has to pay to watch something that 50% fucking commercials. Greedy, soulless bastards. :-) [Reply]
This is BS... You got your free over the air games every week based on which game your local network wanted to cover. Before Sunday ticket, you were screwed. It's a premium product, but a dumbed down jury, again, doesn't get it. We are a victim driven culture. The plaintiff's attorneys will get about 40-50% of the judgement, very little will go to the people. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ThrobProng:
We win unless the cost of a 1 team package is similar to or more than the latest Sunday Ticket cost.
I have a feeling it will be substantially cheaper because this info is a big reason why there was an antitrust lawsuit in the first place.
ESPN proposed radically cutting the price of Sunday Ticket, to just $70 for the entire 2023 season, according to Courthouse News Service. The ESPN proposal, ultimately rejected by the league, also included single-team packages. (YouTube TV is currently offering Sunday Ticket at $349 for the 2024 season.) The NFL wasn’t interested in the ESPN proposal, according to an email from Rolapp that was shown in court. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Ocotillo:
I have a feeling it will be substantially cheaper because this info is a big reason why there was an antitrust lawsuit in the first place.
ESPN proposed radically cutting the price of Sunday Ticket, to just $70 for the entire 2023 season, according to Courthouse News Service. The ESPN proposal, ultimately rejected by the league, also included single-team packages. (YouTube TV is currently offering Sunday Ticket at $349 for the 2024 season.) The NFL wasn’t interested in the ESPN proposal, according to an email from Rolapp that was shown in court.
Yes, because the ESPN package was most likely a far lessor bid. [Reply]
A key line in this story: “Should the NFL end up paying damages, it could cost each of the 32 teams approximately $449.6 million.” #NFLhttps://t.co/8hmpQflrGD
