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Class-action lawsuit could collapse the NFL’s television monopoly, forcing it to pay billions in compensation

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5 months ago

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Class-action lawsuit could collapse the NFL’s television monopoly, forcing it to pay billions in compensation

The NFL was the most-watched sports league in 2023, with an average of 9.2 million viewers per game, according to the Nielsen National TV Panel. However, the NFL’s business model may be about to receive a significant shakeup due to the class-action lawsuit it has been fighting since 2015.

Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled that the antitrust lawsuit against the NFL can continue its legal course. On June 6, the court indicated that the trial can begin with jury selection, and this week the testimonies began.

The lawsuit seeks $7 billion in damages for 2.4 million home subscribers and 48,000 commercial subscribers of the NFL Sunday Ticket. The plaintiffs complain that the NFL is raising subscription prices too high, forcing viewers to watch games broadcast locally on CBS and Fox.

NFL analyst Mike Florio raised the questions that the league and Comissioner Roger Goodell face in the case. He explained that subscribers wonder why they have to buy the full package when they are only interested in a few games.

The heart of the matter according to Florio

In an analysis for “The Pat McAfee Show,” Florio questioned, “Why do I have to buy the whole ticket for the whole year when I only care about one team’s game? Why do I have to buy every week if the team that I want to watch has a Monday Night game that week, and I’m not going to watch any out-of-market games this weekend?”

Although the trial is just beginning, Florio believes that whatever the outcome, the NFL will be forced to change its business model. “Regardless of what happens on appeal, this could rattle the cage enough for the NFL“ to modify the structure of its Sunday Ticket package.

From the analyst’s perspective, the lawsuit will cause the NFL to consider alternatives for its pay packages, such as per-game packages, weekly subscriptions, or more affordable prices, among others.

The price is what is important

McAfee tried to defend the NFL’s position by saying that the league has every right to set the prices of its product, just as any company does. Florio agreed that the NFL’s actions may not violate antitrust laws, but its pricing strategy could be unfairly affecting consumers.

In this sense, Florio explained, “The fight goes down to the pricing and whether and to what extent the NFL, working with CBS, FOX, and DirecTV, now YouTube TV, is conspiring to basically fix the pricing to protect the contracts which CBS and FOX pay billions of dollars to the NFL for the Sunday Games.”

Although the legal battle has been brewing for years, we are only at the beginning of the proceedings. Now, everything is in the hands of the lawyers, the jury, and the judge. However, as Florio said, regardless of the outcome, in the end, everyone may win.

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