NFL must face class action lawsuit over 'Sunday Ticket' prices
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[February 09, 2023]
By Mike Scarcella
(Reuters) -The U.S. National Football League (NFL) must face a $6
billion class action alleging it unlawfully limited televised games
and drove up the cost of its "Sunday Ticket" package, a U.S. judge
ruled on Tuesday.
Sunday Ticket lets subscribers watch local and out-of-market games
on Sunday, while football fans otherwise in any given market can
only see a limited number of games.
The case will be divided into two sets of plaintiffs classes -
individual Sunday Ticket residential subscribers and commercial
establishments, such as hotels and bars.
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez in Los Angeles certified the
case as a class action against the NFL and its teams, a key step for
plaintiffs' lawyers in cases that can involve many potential
individual claims.
The plaintiffs' attorneys are seeking as much as $6 billion in
damages for individuals and commercial entities that purchased
Sunday Ticket from DirecTV since 2011, according to an expert's
report the plaintiffs submitted to the court,
Satellite provider DirecTV has the rights until the end of the 2022
to 2023 season to Sunday Ticket.
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Another expert's report from the plaintiffs recorded at least 2.4
million members in the residential class. The commercial class has
about 48,000 members.
A spokesperson for the NFL on Wednesday said: "We are reviewing the
judge's order. We continue to believe that the plaintiffs' claims
have no merit and will vigorously defend our position in this
matter."
Lawyers for the NFL and its teams have denied liability and argued
the plaintiffs' lawyers failed to meet certain legal requirements to
form classes.
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Aaron Donald is seen on a television inside a restaurant as fans
celebrate the Rams' 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals during
Super Bowl LVI in Inglewood, California, U.S. February 13, 2022.
Picture taken through a glass window. REUTERS/Bing Guan/File Photo
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The NFL's attorneys said any injunction changing
the distribution of games would be moot since the league's deal with
DirecTV is ending at the conclusion of the 2022 to 2023 football
season.
Google-owned YouTube in December signed a
multi-year deal for exclusive streaming of Sunday Ticket package
games. Google did not immediately respond to a message seeking
comment.
The judge's ruling said despite the "new home for Sunday Ticket, the
entire class is likely to continue to be subjected to defendants'
anticompetitive restraints on telecasts".
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a message
seeking comment.
A trial is set to begin in February 2024.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by Leigh Jones, Josie Kao,
Peter Rutherford)
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