Judge Overturns $4.7 Billion Verdict In NFL Sunday Ticket Antitrust Lawsuit

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A California judge has thrown out the $4.7 billion verdict against the National Football League (NFL), which resulted from a lawsuit alleging antitrust violations in its “Sunday Ticket” programming.

The NFL logo is displayed on the turf at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, on Sept. 14, 2014. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

In June, a Los Angeles federal jury ordered over $4.7 billion in damages be awarded to residential and commercial “Sunday Ticket” subscribers, which included restaurants and bars.

That verdict came after the jury found the NFL had violated antitrust laws by restricting the availability of “Sunday Ticket,” which allows viewers to watch out-of-market games but requires them to purchase access to a bundle of games to do so.

However, in an Aug. 1 ruling, Los Angeles-based U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez pointed to testimonies from two key witnesses for the subscribers in the June trial, noting they contained flawed methodologies that should have been excluded.

The jury’s damages verdict was otherwise unsupported by the evidence, he said.

“The Court agrees that Dr. Rascher’s and Dr. Zona’s testimonies based on their flawed methodologies should be excluded,” the judge wrote. “And because there was no other support for the class-wide injury and damages elements of Plaintiffs […] claims, judgment as a matter of law for the Defendants is appropriate.”

The jury’s damages awards “were not based on the ‘evidence and reasonable inferences’ but instead were more akin to ’guesswork or speculation’” he said.

“For the forgoing [sic] reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants’ judgment as a matter of law as, without the testimonies of Dr. Rascher and Dr. Zona, no reasonable jury could have found class-wide injury or damages,” the judge concluded.

The NFL welcomed the ruling in a statement on X, saying it was “grateful” for the judge’s decision in the class action lawsuit.

“We believe that the NFL’s media distribution model provides our fans with an array of options to follow the game they love, including local broadcasts of every single game on free over-the-air television,” the statement said. “We thank Judge Gutierrez for his time and attention to this case and look forward to an exciting 2024 NFL season.”

Package Violates Antitrust Laws, Lawsuit Alleged

Restricting availability allowed DirecTV to charge artificially higher prices as its former sole distributor, a jury found in June.

The ruling stemmed from a class action lawsuit filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco alleging the league “conspired” with distributor DirecTV to raise prices for the “Sunday Ticket” package.

The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for the “Sunday Ticket” package from DirecTV, or its subsidiaries, at any time between 2011 and 2022.

DirecTV was not on trial on the matter.

Plaintiffs argued the package violated antitrust laws because it effectively “results in the blackout or unavailability of out-of-market games” unless consumers bought the “Sunday Ticket” package at inflated prices.

They further argued that the deal “results in substantial injury to competition.”

Defending their actions in the lawsuit, attorneys for the NFL had argued the “Sunday Ticket” program was exempt from antitrust scrutiny under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.

That act allowed the NFL to sell its TV rights as a group, despite the league consisting of 32 team owners who collectively own all the big TV rights, attorneys said.

Following the June verdict, the league said it planned to appeal.

The Epoch Times has contacted attorneys for the plaintiffs for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.