The NFL plans to appeal a ruling by a federal jury in Los Angeles on Thursday that found the league liable for more than $4.7 billion in damages over antitrust violations related to DirecTV's "Sunday Ticket" packages. The jury, after about five hours of deliberations across two days, voted unanimously that the NFL, DirecTV, CBS and Fox colluded to increase the price of the game packages.
The class-action lawsuit began in 2015 with a complaint filed by a San Francisco sports bar named the Mucky Duck that was dismissed in 2017. The Ninth U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals later reinstated the case, which last year became a class action and covered more than 2.4 million residential subscribers and more than 48,000 businesses that purchased DirectTV's "Sunday Ticket" package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons. If the verdict stands, it would award $4.
7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million to the commercial class. The damages could increase to up to $12.3 billion due to federal laws that triple the amount in antitrust cases.
"It's a great verdict for consumers around America that this jury, despite the star power of the defendants, upheld the antitrust laws which are geared to protect consumers from overcharges," Bill Carmody, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Los Angeles Times. "Justice was served." The plaintiffs argued that NFL teams pooling their broadcasts through "Sunday Ticket" on a satellite provider and selling the package.
