Judge says jury did not follow instructions on damages in ‘Sunday Ticket’ case

The judge who presided over the class-action lawsuit filed by “Sunday Ticket” subscribers against the NFL said the jury did not follow his instructions in determining damages.

U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez made the remark as he heard the NFL’s post-trial motion asking that Gutierrez rule for the league if he finds the plaintiffs did not prove their case.

Gutierrez could also order a new trial because the eight-person jury came up with its own calculations for damages.

There isn’t a timeline for when Gutierrez could rule on the motion.

In his jury instructions before closing arguments on June 26, Gutierrez said “damages may not be based on guesswork or speculation. Plaintiffs must prove the reasonableness of each of the assumptions upon which the damages calculation is based.”

The federal jury on June 27 awarded $4.7 billion in damages to residential and commercial subscribers after it ruled the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service.

The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the package on DirecTV of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons. The lawsuit claimed the league broke antitrust laws by selling the package at an inflated price. The subscribers also say the league restricted competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only on a satellite provider.

The jury of five men and three women found the NFL liable for $4,610,331,671.74 in damages to the residential class (home subscribers) and $96,928,272.90 in damages to the commercial class (business subscribers).

The jury’s amount did not conform to the college football model ($7.01 billion) by Daniel Rascher, an economist at the University of San Francisco, or the multiple-distributor model ($3.48 billion) by John Zona, who was an expert witness in the case.

Instead, the jury used the 2021 list price of $293.96 and subtracted $102.74, the average price actually paid by residential Sunday Ticket subscribers. The jury then used $191.26, which it considered as the “overcharge,” and multiplied that by the number of subscribers to come up with the damages amount.

“The damages amount is indefensible,” NFL attorney Brian Stekloff said during his remarks to Gutierrez.

Marc Seltzer, representing the “Sunday Ticket” subscribers, countered by saying “the evidence for the jury supported our case from the beginning.”

“Today we asked the district court to set aside the jury’s verdict in this case, which is contrary to the law and unsupported by the evidence presented at trial,” the NFL said in a statement. “The NFL’s media distribution model is the most fan friendly in sports, with all games broadcast locally on free over-the-air television in addition to many other choices available to fans who want even more access to NFL content. We will continue to pursue all avenues in defense of the claims brought in this case.”

Since damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could end up being liable for $14,121,779,833.92.

The NFL has said it would appeal the verdict. That appeal would go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly the Supreme Court.

Payment of damages, any changes to the “Sunday Ticket” package and/or the ways the NFL carries its Sunday afternoon games would be stayed until all appeals have been concluded.