The jury found that the NFL’s ‘Sunday Ticket’ pricing model was anticompetitive, forcing consumers to pay for unwanted games|Josh Hallett|CC BY-SA 2.0
A federal jury in California ordered the NFL to pay nearly $4.7 billion in damages to consumers of the “Sunday Ticket,” ruling that the league violated antitrust laws by inflating the prices of the telecast package.
The jury awarded $96 million to commercial users like bars and nearly $4.6 billion to residential consumers. The damages could potentially triple to $14.39 billion under federal antitrust laws.
The decision stems from a 2015 lawsuit filed by a San Francisco pub representing 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses, accusing the NFL of unfairly raising prices and limiting competition by exclusively offering Sunday Ticket on DirecTV.
The NFL, disappointed with the decision, plans to appeal the verdict.