Jury rules NFL violated antitrust laws in 'Sunday Ticket' case - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — A jury in U.S. District Court ruled Thursday that the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service and has awarded more than $4.7 billion in damages.

The jury ordered the league to pay $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class.

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.

«We will certainly contest this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are baseless and without merit. We thank the jury for their time and service and for the guidance and oversight from Judge [Philip] Gutierrez throughout the trial.»

Post-trial motions will be heard July 31, including one to set aside the verdict. If the verdict isn't set aside, the NFL will appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court.

The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit claimed the league broke antitrust laws by selling its package of Sunday games at an inflated price. The subscribers also say the league restricted competition by offering «Sunday Ticket» only on a