Could NFL Sunday Ticket lawsuit change the way America can watch — and pay for — football?

In Los Angeles, the NFL is in the midst of an expected three-week trial to determine whether it allowed DirectTV, from 2012 to 2022, to sell the broadcasts to out-of-market games via its “Sunday Ticket” package at inflated rates.

The class action suit, which represents nearly 2.5 million customers, including individuals and bar owners, argues that the NFL violated antitrust laws restricting competition in an effort to protect its lucrative deals with Fox and CBS for Sunday afternoon games. It seeks $7.1 billion in damages which could be tripled to over $21 billion.

DirectTV was the exclusive home of the “NFL Sunday Ticket” from the 1994 season until 2022. YouTubeTV took over in 2023. It costs an additional $349 a season above the YouTubeTV rate ($72.99 per month).

Plaintiffs argue that the NFL made the cost of Sunday Ticket artificially high in order to cash in on desperate, hardcore fans willing to pay whatever to see their favorite team or specific out-of-market games, as well as bars that needed to attract customers.

Yet in doing so, they priced out most fans, thus forcing them to watch whatever game was on local television, the suit contends. That offered protection for the NFL’s local broadcasting deals with Fox and CBS, who pay the league billions.

Additionally, by making Sunday Ticket an exclusive offering of DirectTV, which has just 13 million subscribers and required the installation of a satellite dish, rather than a far more available basic cable or even streaming option, they purposely limited the number of potential customers.

The NFL has argued it was a premium service and thus came at a premium price.

“The case is about choice,” NFL attorney Beth Wilkinson said to the jury, according to the Associated Press. “This is a valuable, premium product. Think about all the choices available to fans? We want as many people as possible to watch the free broadcasts.”

Additionally, the league has argued at different times over the nine years of this…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-06-14 16:02:29

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