In June, a jury reached a verdict in the long-running NFL “Sunday Ticket” antitrust lawsuit in which the league would pay $4.7 billion to a group of plaintiffs. But U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled Thursday that testimony from two of the plaintiffs was flawed.
“[T]he Court does not find that it would be unreasonable for a juror to find that there was a conspiracy that unreasonably restrained trade,” the judge wrote. There was evidence in the record – even without the testimonies. … to support a reasonable jury’s finding of an unreasonable restraint of trade.”
The two plaintiffs in question, Dr. Daniel Rascher and Dr. John Yona, argued that the league could have sold “Sunday Ticket” “by other than pooling the 32 teams’ rights and selling it to one distributor,” notes Awful Announcing.
However, the judge felt that arguments to make games free on cable were insufficient and not “economically rational.”
“The Court finds that the jury’s damages awards were not based on the ‘evidence and reasonable inferences’ but instead were more akin to ‘guesswork or speculation.’” Gutierrez wrote, per Front Office Sports.
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A San Francisco sports bar initially filed a lawsuit in 2015, alleging the NFL broke antitrust law by only presenting the league’s out-of-market games in a bundle instead of offering a one-team package. The case was dismissed in 2017, but it was reinstated around two years later.
It was later designated as a class-action lawsuit and included millions of bars, restaurants and subscribers.
The suit also alleged the league inflated the price of its “Sunday Ticket” package. On YouTube TV, the package is currently available for $349 per year.
Damages for the NFL could have reached nearly $14 billion, as damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws.
“We are grateful for today’s ruling in the Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the NFL said in a statement. “We believe that the NFL’s media distribution model provides our fans with an array of options to follow the game they love, including local broadcasts of every single game on free over-the-air television. We thank Judge Gutierrez for his time and attention to this case and look forward to an exciting 2024 NFL season.”
Fox Business’ Chantz Martin contributed to this report.
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