A jury in Los Angeles agreed with fans who say the NFL overcharged them for NFL Sunday Ticket. As a result, the NFL has been hit with a $4.7 billion verdict that ruled the NFL violated antitrust laws related to its out-of-market TV games.
“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 NFL said in a statement.
So how to find out if you are eligible for part of the payout? If you subscribed to DIRECTV between June 17, 2011, and February 7, 2023, and paid for an NFL Sunday Ticket bundle, you are eligible for some of that $4.7 billion verdict. The exact amount has not been decided yet as lawyers get their cut first. Also, the NFL plans to appeal the ruling delaying the payout.
This case started back in 2015 and related to how the NFL acts differently from other major sports with its NFL Sunday Ticket. The jury agreed in less than a day of hearings, saying the NFL broke antitrust laws with its NFL Sunday Ticket contract.
The NFL fans who had brought the lawsuit had asked for $7 billion in damages, but they have only received a $4.7 billion judgment.
The case will likely be appealed, and we will likely be years away from the NFL Sunday Ticket payment reaching fans if it is upheld in court.
No word yet on how this will impact the NFL deal with YouTube TV. DIRECTV was not a defendant in this trial.