The National Football League was ordered Thursday to pay nearly $5 billion after a jury found that it violated antitrust laws by distributing Sunday afternoon football games through a subscription platform.
A U.S. District Court jury ordered the league to pay $4.7 billion back to those who purchased the platform from the residential class and an additional $96 million to those in the commercial class, per ESPN.
However, federal antitrust laws state that the fines can be tripled in some instances, meaning that the NFL could be on the hook for more than $14 billion.
The lawsuit was first brought forth in 2015 and presented concerns regarding the league’s packaging of games that were neither local market games nor being shown on national television, as reported by CNN.
The plaintiffs in this case argued that the NFL was forcing certain fans who wanted to watch these games to pay more for the “Sunday Ticket” package since the games were unavailable on other platforms.
Bill Carmody, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said prior to the decision that this case “transcends football,” noting that it is simply about providing justice to those who have been taken advantage of by the league.
“It’s about telling the 32 team owners who collectively own all the big TV rights, the most popular content in the history of TV — that’s what they have. It’s about telling them that even you cannot ignore the antitrust laws. Even you cannot collude to overcharge consumers. Even you can’t hide the truth and think you’re going to get away with it,” he said, per the Associated Press.
The NFL responded to the verdict by saying that it was “disappointed” in the jury’s decision and noting that the current plan is to appeal the verdict.
“We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment,” continued the league in a statement, according to ESPN.
“We will certainly contest this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are baseless and without merit. We thank the jury for their time and service and for the guidance and oversight from Judge [Philip] Gutierrez throughout the trial.”
While the NFL has yet to officially file for an appeal, the current ruling could provide various complications for how the payout process would work.
The lawsuit covers 12 years of the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket” coverage, with those who bought the package between June 17, 201, and February 7, 2023 being automatically included, per NBC Sports.
The conditions of the lawsuit dictate that the plaintiffs’ attorney will receive roughly 40% of the total fine, which, once the initial orders are tripled, will amount to $5.52 billion, per NBC Sports.
From there, the NFL will be forced to pay roughly $8.28 billion to an estimated 2.4 million residential class members, which equals about $3,450 per person. The total number of commercial recipients is unknown at this time. It remains unclear whether these payments will realistically be sent to every person who is expected to be included in the lawsuit.