NFL ‘Sunday Ticket’ antitrust trial heads to court in Los Angeles, payoffs could reach $21B

The National Football League is heading to trial on Wednesday in Los Angeles where jurors will decide if the league broke antitrust laws and should pay billions of dollars in damages over its “Sunday Ticket” telecast.

Subscribers to its “Sunday Ticket” televised game filed a federal class action lawsuit in 2015, claiming that the NFL used agreements with broadcast partners to keep a stranglehold over distribution, which allowed DirecTV to charge pumped up prices as the sole distributor for the out-of-market games.

The plaintiffs, who represent millions of home viewers and commercial subscribers like restaurants and bars, are asking a jury to find the NFL liable and award $7 billion in damages.

The award could balloon up to $21 billion, as antitrust cases can triple damages, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Meanwhile, the NFL has denied any wrongdoing and called the damages amount “speculative,” Reuters reported on Tuesday. Attorneys for the plaintiffs and the NFL did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Only the NFL and its teams are on trial. Related claims against DirecTV have been paused pending arbitration.

U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez will preside over the LA-based trial, which will begin on Wednesday with jury selection and is likely to last several weeks.

The trial could get buzzy if NFL Commissioner Roger Gooddell and other current and former league execs like Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft are summoned to testify.

According to Reuters, lawyers for the plaintiffs, who bought NFL “Sunday Ticket” between June 2011 and February 2023, are expected to argue that the games are a “premium” product that expands access to televised games rather than restricting it.

If their lawyers persuade the jury to hold NFL liable and award damages, Reuters said a second phase of the trial will kick off and focus on a potential injunction that would force changes to the “Sunday Ticket” distribution model.

Since the lawsuit was filed nearly a decade ago, “Sunday Ticket” changed hands from DirecTV –which held the rights since 1994 — to Google’s YouTubeTV in 2022 for $2 billion.

YouTube, which is not a defendant, has democratized “Sunday Ticket” games somewhat in its deal for residential subscribers.

The streaming service offers the games for non-YouTubeTV subscribers for $449 a year. For YouTubeTV subscribers, the cost is $349 a year.

DirectTV continues to offer “Sunday Ticket” to commercial businesses, such as bars, restaurants and hotels, however.