Judge Tosses $4.7B Verdict Against NFL in ‘Sunday Ticket’ Antitrust Case

A federal judge has nixed a jury’s verdict against the National Football League that found the league overcharged customers for its “Sunday Ticket” package.

Los Angeles-based U.S. District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled Thursday that the jury’s $4.7 billion award to subscribers should be thrown out due to inadmissible expert witness testimony, without which “no reasonable jury” could have reached a verdict against the NFL. 

“Sunday Ticket”—for decades distributed by satellite provider DirecTV and since last season carried by streaming service YouTube TV, a division of Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google—is the only option for viewers to watch NFL games outside their local broadcast market or on national television. DirecTV was not party to the lawsuit, which covered the 2011-2022 seasons.

‘Irrational Damages’

Gutierrez said the court would have vacated the jury’s award anyway, calling it “irrational damages.” The jury awarded $4.6 billion in conjunction with 24.1 million residential “Sunday Ticket” subscriptions and another $96.9 million related to 506,788 commercial subscriptions during the 12 NFL seasons covered in the suit. 

“We are grateful for today’s ruling in the Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the NFL said Thursday night. “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 judge’s decision can be appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.