Judge Tosses $4.7B Verdict Against NFL in 'Sunday Ticket' Antitrust Case

A national judge has nixed a jury’s verdict against nan National Football League that recovered nan convention overcharged customers for its "Sunday Ticket" package.

Los Angeles-based U.S. District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled Thursday that nan jury’s $4.7 cardinal grant to subscribers should beryllium thrown retired owed to inadmissible master witnesser testimony, without which "no reasonable jury" could person reached a verdict against nan NFL. 

"Sunday Ticket"—for decades distributed by outer supplier DirecTV and since past play carried by streaming work YouTube TV, a section of Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google—is nan only action for viewers to watch NFL games extracurricular their section broadcast marketplace aliases connected nationalist television. DirecTV was not statement to nan lawsuit, which covered nan 2011-2022 seasons.

'Irrational Damages'

Gutierrez said nan tribunal would person vacated nan jury's grant anyway, calling it "irrational damages." The assemblage awarded $4.6 cardinal successful conjunction pinch 24.1 cardinal residential "Sunday Ticket" subscriptions and different $96.9 cardinal related to 506,788 commercialized subscriptions during nan 12 NFL seasons covered successful nan suit. 

"We are grateful for today's ruling successful nan Sunday Ticket people action lawsuit," nan NFL said Thursday night. "We judge that nan NFL's media distribution exemplary provides our fans pinch an array of options to travel nan crippled they love, including section broadcasts of each azygous crippled connected free over-the-air television."

The judge's determination tin beryllium appealed to nan 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals successful San Francisco.