A United States District Court jury has ordered the National Football League to pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages to the 2.4 million residential and 48,000 commercial NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers from June 2011 to February 2023. Damages in antitrust cases can triple, bringing the final bill to over $14 billion.
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The eight-person jury decided that selling Sunday Ticket at an inflated price on only one platform (DirecTV) broke antitrust laws. In addition to limiting the subscriber base, the setup helped local CBS and FOX affiliates to keep their ratings high when broadcasting NFL games. The scenario also allowed the league to charge billions of dollars for broadcast rights.
Residential subscribers will receive a share of $4.7 billion, which could increase to $13.8 billion. Mike Florio did the rough math and shared on the Pat McAfee show how much each subscriber in the class action lawsuit could get.
“My rough math at this point would suggest that you’re looking at three, four, five thousand dollars per person if you had it for most of the time.”
However, it’s not the final number because the lawyers will receive contingency fees. If the NFL wins its appeal, the subscribers might not receive the money anytime soon.
Determining how much each NFL Sunday Ticket subscriber will get is complicated because some have been using the service longer than others. In a video on the NBC Sports website, Florio calculated the payout at $5,700 per person by dividing 13.8 billion over 2.4 million.
But before distributing the money, the lawyers who fought on the subscriber’s behalf can get up to 40 percent in contingency fees. Unfortunately for the affected subscribers, this legal battle is far from over. As Florio mentioned, both sides will return to court on July 31 to hear the NFL’s contest to the decision.
The NFL Sunday Ticket Legal Saga Will Take Years to End
The favorable decision brought a smile to Sunday Ticket subscribers. However, the case is far from the end zone because, after the July 31 hearing, the league can bring the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
The losing side on that stage will elevate the fight to the United States Supreme Court. Since two additional phases of litigation could happen, the ‘Pro Football Talk’ host estimated the low-end estimate for how long it will take until the process is over.
“The appeal process kicks in, and it’s called the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. It’s a federal appeals court. Whoever loses has the right to get an appeal there. That’s gonna take some time. Then, after that, you go to the US Supreme Court; that’s gonna take some time. I’d say two or three years, roughly, and that might be the minimum.”
Therefore, it would take time for those involved in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit to receive a payment or end up with nothing. However, according to Florio, paying this amount won’t affect player salaries. Instead, if the NFL loses this case, each team could pay $449.6 million to cover the payouts.
