The lawsuit represented 2.4 million residential and 48,000 business subscribers from 2011 to 2022
A judge overturned a California jury’s June ruling that would have seen the NFL pay nearly $4.7 billion in damages to consumers of the “Sunday Ticket.”
The case is part of a long-standing legal battle over whether the NFL’s Sunday Ticket, which lets subscribers watch games not shown in their area, violates antitrust laws and harms consumers by making them pay a lot for games they don’t want.
The lawsuit represented 2.4 million residential and 48,000 business subscribers from 2011 to 2022. Since damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could have been liable for $14.1 billion.
Ruling in favor of the NFL, US District Judge Philip Gutierrez stated that the testimony from two expert witnesses for the subscribers had “flawed methodologies,” leading the jury to decide based on “guesswork or speculation” rather than on evidence.
It’s expected that the plaintiffs will appeal this latest decision.
The case has previously seen rulings in favor of the NFL. It was dismissed in 2017, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated it in 2019.