The NFL on Thursday was ordered to pay more than $4.7 billion in damages after a jury ruled that the league violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on its Sunday Ticket premium subscription service.
The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million to the commercial class. Because damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could be liable for up to $14.39 billion.
According to ESPN, the lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit claimed that the league broke antitrust laws by selling its package of Sunday games at an inflated price and only offering the Sunday Ticket on a satellite provider.
BREAKING: The NFL has been ordered to pay fans $4.7 billion in damages as a result of its Sunday Ticket antitrust trial.
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 27, 2024
And since antitrust cases can triple damages, the actual number is over $14 billion.
That's thousands of dollars per household. pic.twitter.com/jlMRBqez05
The NFL said in a statement that it will appeal the verdict.
"We are disappointed with the jury's verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit. We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment," the league said.
The NFL said it will appeal the decision, but should the league end up covering the damages, each of the 32 NFL teams would be on the hook for around $450 million.
"Justice was done. The verdict upholds protection for the consumers in our class. It was a great day for consumers," plaintiffs attorney Bill Carmody said.
