Judge Hears NFL Motion in ‘Sunday Ticket’ Case, Says Jury Failed to Follow Damages Instructions
LOS ANGELES — The judge presiding over the class action lawsuit filed by Sunday Ticket subscribers against the NFL said the jury failed to follow his instructions in determining damages.
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez made the remark as he heard the NFL’s post-trial motion asking Gutierrez to rule for the league if he believes the plaintiffs have failed to prove their case.
Gutierrez could also order a new trial because the eight-person jury made its own calculations of damages.
There is no timetable for when Gutierrez might rule on the motion.
In his instructions to the jury before closing arguments on June 26, Gutierrez said that “damages cannot be based on suppositions or speculation. Plaintiffs must prove the reasonableness of each of the assumptions upon which the calculation of damages is based.”
The federal jury of June 27 The NFL has awarded $4.7 billion in damages to residential and commercial subscribers after ruling that the NFL violated antitrust laws by distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service.
The lawsuit involved 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the DirecTV package of out-of-market games from the 2011 to 2022 seasons. The lawsuit claimed the league violated antitrust laws by selling the package at an inflated price. The subscribers also claim the league restricted competition by offering the “Sunday Ticket” only on one satellite provider.
The jury of five men and three women found the NFL liable for $4,610,331,671.74 in damages to the residential class (home subscribers) and $96,928,272.90 in damages to the commercial class (business subscribers).
The jury’s award did not conform to the college football model ($7.01 billion) of Daniel Rascher, an economist at the University of San Francisco, or the multiple-dealer model ($3.48 billion) of John Zona, who was an expert witness in the case.
The jury instead used the 2021 list price of $293.96, from which it subtracted $102.74, the average price actually paid by residential Sunday Ticket subscribers. The jury then used $191.26, which it considered the “overcharge,” and multiplied it by the number of subscribers to arrive at the damages amount.
“The amount of damages is indefensible,” NFL attorney Brian Stekloff said in his address to Gutierrez.
Marc Seltzer, representing Sunday Ticket subscribers, countered by saying that “the evidence presented to the jury supported our case all along.”
“Today, we asked the district court to overturn the jury’s verdict in this case, which is contrary to law and unsupported by the evidence presented at trial,” the NFL said in a statement. “The NFL’s media distribution model is the most fan-friendly in the sport, with every game broadcast locally on free, over-the-air television in addition to many other choices available to fans who want even more access to NFL content. We will continue to explore all avenues to defend the claims presented in this case.”
Since damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could be liable for $14,121,779,833.92.
The NFL has announced that it will appeal the verdict, which would go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly to the Supreme Court.
Payment of damages, any changes to the “Sunday Ticket” package and/or how the NFL broadcasts its Sunday afternoon games would be suspended until all appeals are concluded.
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