A federal judge overturned the jury verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket lawsuit on Thursday afternoon, according to multiple reports.
Last month, a Los Angeles jury ruled that the league had violated antitrust laws by selling its “Sunday Ticket” package only on DirecTV at an inflated price, opening the league up to potentially being liable for more than $14 billion in damages. Now, however, that ruling has been overturned in what is a major victory for the league heading into the 2024 season.
BREAKING: A federal district judge overturned the jury’s verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket case
— Daniel Kaplan (@KaplanSportsBiz) August 1, 2024
A class-action lawsuit was filed against the NFL earlier this year alleging it violated antitrust laws that restrict competition in an effort to protect its deals with Fox and CBS for Sunday afternoon games each season. DirecTV had exclusive Sunday Ticket from 1994 through 2022, and then YouTube TV took over before the 2023 season. The package normally costs $349 per season.
The suit argued that the NFL kept the cost of Sunday Ticket artificially high to profit from fans who wanted to see their favorite team play in out-of-market games and from bars that wanted to attract customers on game days. This, the suit argued, drove up the price for most fans and forced them to watch only the home game.
The NFL argued throughout the lawsuit that Sunday Ticket was simply a premium service and that it came at a premium price.
“The case is a matter of choice,” NFL attorney Beth Wilkinson told jurors during the case. “This is a valuable, premium product. Think about all the options available to fans. We want as many people as possible to watch the free streams.”
This post will be updated with more information shortly.