LOS ANGELES (AP) — The NFL was exploring a world without “Sunday Ticket” in 2017, where cable channels would air Sunday afternoon out-of-market games not shown on Fox or CBS. The league memo was shown by plaintiffs during their closing arguments on Wednesday as the jury in the class-action lawsuit filed by “Sunday Ticket” subscribers began deliberations. After receiving instructions from U.
S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez, the jury heard the plaintiffs' closing statement in the morning. Following lunch, the NFL gave its final remarks before the plaintiffs had 20 minutes for rebuttal.
The jury met for 90 minutes before wrapping up for the day. Deliberations will continue Thursday. In a trial that has lasted three weeks and featured testimony from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, the April 21, 2017, memo — titled the “NFL New Frontier” — provided one of the biggest highlights.
The memo was a reimagining of Sunday afternoons where every game would be on a broadcast or cable network. Fox and CBS would have paid 25% less per game (approximately $10 million per game) while cable networks would have paid $9 million per game, which was the average doled out by DirecTV in its contract with the league. The figures were for the rights that expired after the 2022 season.
Those averages would be higher now with agreements that started last season. The league memo showed early games on FS1, ESPN, ESPN2, TBS, TNT, NFL Network and CBS S.
