The reckoning, if there will be one, could be coming this week.
Via Joe Reedy of the Associated Press, all evidence has been presented in the trial of the Sunday Ticket class action against the NFL. Closing arguments will happen on Wednesday. Jury deliberations will begin that morning or afternoon.
Along the way, the jury will be instructed as to the law that applies to the case.
The jury will then deliberate until there’s a verdict or an impasse. If the NFL loses, the presiding judge could still enter judgment notwithstanding the verdict for the defense. Regardless of who wins or loses, an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit remains possible.
The league could have a much stronger case on the law than on the facts. As to the facts, there’s plenty of evidence to support a jury verdict on the question of whether the league required Sunday Ticket to be priced high enough to ensure that plenty of consumers would instead watch the games available on local CBS and/or Fox affiliates. Thus, even if the plaintiffs fail to parlay those facts into a win or if the broadcast antitrust exemption or some other legal principle gives the league a silver bullet, it seems that the league could have made the product available to customers at a much lower price — but that it didn’t want to.
Remember that the next time they tell you football is family.