US judge throws out $4.7 billion verdict against NFL in ‘Sunday Ticket’ lawsuit

By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) – A U.S. judge in California on Thursday threw out a $4.7 billion verdict against the National Football League in a lawsuit claiming it overcharged subscribers to its Sunday Ticket game telecasts for more than a decade.

The ruling by Los Angeles-based U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez followed arguments by the NFL that the verdict was unjustified and the result of a “runaway” jury.

The NFL and lawyers for the subscribers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Sunday Ticket” is the only broadcast option for NFL fans who want to watch their teams play out-of-market games. The subscribers alleged “Sunday Ticket” prices were inflated to limit subscriptions and protect distribution rights fees that broadcast networks paid to air games in local markets.

The court’s ruling granting judgment as a matter of law to the NFL can be appealed to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A Los Angeles federal jury said in its June 27 verdict that the NFL had restricted the availability of “Sunday Ticket,” allowing DirecTV to charge artificially higher prices as its former sole distributor. DirecTV was not on trial.

The jury awarded $4.6 billion based on 24.1 million residential subscriptions throughout the 12-year class period, and $96.9 million based on about 506,780 commercial subscriptions for bars and restaurants.

The NFL in a court filing called the damages amount “nonsensical” based on the evidence the jury was allowed to consider and denied subscribers were overcharged.

The subscribers countered that the NFL based its arguments on “pure conjecture” into the jury’s reasoning and said there was no evidence the jurors relied on evidence they were told to ignore.

U.S. antitrust law allows for the tripling of damages awards, potentially increasing the value of the verdict to $14 billion.

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by Daniel Wallis)