Class-Action Lawsuit Begins: NFL ‘Sunday Ticket’ Subscribers Sue
People who want to watch NFL games that aren’t broadcast locally must purchase Sunday Ticket. This means that Miami Dolphins fans living in New York City must pay hundreds of dollars per year at reportedly inflated prices to watch their favorite team play. Outside of sketchy streaming tactics, there’s really no option that allows people to simply watch their favorite teams outside of their local market.
The NFL Sunday Ticket Heads to Court
Recently, a class-action lawsuit filed by Sunday Ticket subscribers claiming that the NFL broke antitrust laws made its way to federal court Thursday (June 6). The Associated Press reported that the league’s attorney told jurors that fans have a choice when it comes to watching games and the “Sunday Ticket” package is a premium product.
“The case is about choice. This is a valuable, premium product. Think about all the choices available to fans. We want as many people as possible to watch the free broadcasts,” said Beth Wilkinson, who is representing the NFL.
The case, first brought in 2015, focuses on the NFL’s package of games outside of a local market that are not shown nationally on other networks. The suit says by restricting broadcasts of those “out-of-market” games to the Sunday Ticket package, the NFL is forcing customers who just want to watch one team, or a small group of teams have to pay more.
According to CNN, the plaintiffs’ attorneys argued in a filing. “Given the relatively low cost of internet streaming and satellite and cable television carriage, each team acting independently would offer their games at a competitive price to anybody in the country who wanted to watch that particular team.” They continued “Instead, however, the teams have all forgone this option in favor of creating a more lucrative monopoly.”
A report from The Hollywood Reporter said that among the witnesses who could be called in the case are NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, team owners Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft as well as executives from various television networks and DirecTV, which had held the exclusive Sunday Ticket package until it lost it to Google-owned YouTube TV at the start of last season, at a reported cost of $2 billion a year. YouTube charges fans $449 a year for the package.
Multiple sources said the trial is expected to last about two weeks, with each side having 25 hours to present their cases.
Some people speculate that the NFL will settle. The league had a $790 million settlement that ended a lawsuit by plaintiffs in St. Louis who objected to the relocation of the Rams to Los Angeles in 2016 and a $765 million settlement reached in 2013 that set up a fund to compensate players who suffered brain injuries from concussions during playing days.
