NFL Set for Trial in $6 Billion Sunday Ticket Antitrust Case

The NFL must go to trial in a suit that accuses the league’s club members of conspiring with broadcast partners to suppress telecasts of out-of-market football games.

Judge Philip S. Gutierrez of the US District Court for the Central District of California on Thursday denied NFL’s motion for summary judgment on claims the league violated Section 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, which prohibits agreements that restrain trade and monopolization attempts. NFL will now face antitrust claims at a trial starting Feb. 22. Plaintiffs seek damages of as much as $6.1 billion.

At issue is an alleged agreement and overall structure of the “Sunday Ticket” package available on DirecTV that forces viewers to choose between buying every out-of-market game, or none. It adds to the recent trend of antitrust scrutiny about sports leagues’ rules, including on college athletes’ compensation and team affiliations in the baseball league.

Gutierrez said the plaintiffs had sufficient evidence about the existence of an agreement between the NFL and its member clubs that grants the football league the exclusive right to license rights to telecast its games. A “reasonable trier of fact” could find that the alleged pooling of telecast rights is concerted action subject to Section 1 of the Sherman Act, he said.

Jury Must Decide

Gutierrez also said NFL wasn’t entitled to summary judgment on a Section 2 claim because there was a genuine dispute that should be decided by a jury as to whether the NFL and its member clubs must function as a single entity to produce the telecasts.

The plaintiffs alleged the defendants violated Section 2 because the member clubs “agreed to consolidate all licensing rights for live video presentations of regular season NFL games into a single entity,” with the intent to monopolize.

Two groups of Sunday Ticket subscribers were granted class status earlier this year in their suit over the agreement among NFL member clubs not to compete with one another in producing telecasts of their games.

NFL argued the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring damages claims against the league and its clubs because they hadn’t purchased anything from the NFL, and that they couldn’t prove a conspiracy with DirecTV. They also said there was no proof of concerted action, or that such an concerted action unreasonably restrained trade or resulted in monopolization.

The plaintiffs are represented by Susman Godfrey LLP, Hausfeld LLP, and Langer Grogan & Diver PC, among others. The league is represented by Wilkinson Stekloff LLP and Covington & Burling LLP, among others.

The case is In re Nat’l Football Leagues Sunday Ticket Antitrust Litig., C.D. Cal., No. 2:15-ml-02668, 1/11/24.