When I was a kid, I’d read the sports page every morning while munching through a bowl of Frosted Flakes before they got too damn soggy. From time to time, I’d look at the stuff in the rest of the newspaper.
And then I’d stop.
There was always something happening that had been happening for a while. The latest story on the subject presumed a basic level of understanding of the situation. If you didn’t have it, you were SOL.
For some of you who have returned to football after a summer of doing other stuff, you’re seeing items about the Sunday Ticket lawsuit. You might not understand what it’s all about. For that reason, here’s a summary of what the case is about, what has happened, what comes next, and how you can find out more about it.
The case dates back to 2015. It’s a combination of a class action brought by commercial establishments and a class action on behalf of more than 2.4 million residential customers of Sunday Ticket. The combined classes cover 2011 through 2022.
Anyone who purchased Sunday Ticket during that period should check out this website, and maybe bookmark it.
The claims are pretty simple. Since 1961, the NFL has had the ability to sell TV rights as a league to free, over-the-air networks, thanks to an antitrust exemption given to it by Congress. That exemption, as highlighted by testimony from former Commissioner Pete Rozelle to Congress at the time, was never intended to apply to “pay” TV.
When the NFL sold TV rights to cable networks for the first time in the late 1980s (a half-season of Sunday nights on ESPN), no one pushed the antitrust issue. When the NFL sold the out-of-market package to DirecTV in 1994, the potential antitrust violation was hiding in plain sight.
The harm, as alleged and proven in this case, came from the NFL setting a price for Sunday Ticket that nudged millions who would have bought it toward the games available on their local CBS and Fox affiliates. This allowed the NFL to find a sweet spot, where it could get billions from DirecTV (thanks to the fans who happily paid the inflated price) and billions from CBS and Fox (who reluctantly tolerated the lost ratings points from Sunday Ticket).
After nine years of litigation, which included the original district-court judge throwing the case out and an appeals court resurrecting it, the trial started in June. Even though the worst-case scenario for the NFL was flagged before the trial began as $21 billion, the coverage was sparse and lackluster. Niche outlets sporadically had articles. The AP would push a story from time to time that painted with a broad but incomplete brush. There was no one constantly in the courtroom, observing the trial and sending out daily items about how things were going.
We tried to sound the alarm that something big could be coming. Few listened. Those who did were inclined to dismiss the concerns, likely due to the fact that so few were saying, “Hey, the NFL could lose a lot of money here.”
Then came the verdict: $4.7 billion. If/when entered as an official judgment, it will triple automatically to $14.1 billion.
The NFL will continue to fight; there’s too much money at stake. Based on things the judge said during the trial, the NFL might have a chance to get the verdict thrown out. And if the verdict becomes an official judgment, the NFL will appeal the outcome as far as it can.
Given that the trial was covered so sloppily, we purchased the full, 2,506-page transcript earlier this month. I’ve been going through it, one day at a time.
If you’re interested in the coverage that should have been generated by someone/anyone during the case, here are the links to the first eight days of trial:
Day 2-3 (testimony from Steve Bornstein, former NFL Media chief).
Day 3 (testimony from plaintiff Robert Lipincott, a displaced Saints fan).
Day 4 (testimony from Fox executive Larry Jones).
Day 5-6 (testimony from Dr. Daniel Rascher on damages).
Day 6 (the judge vents frustrations with the plaintiffs’ lawyers).
Day 6 (testimony from Brian Rolapp, current NFL Media chief).
Day 7 (testimony from dueling expert witnesses on damages).
Day 8 (testimony from Roger Goodell).
I’ve still got nearly 1,000 pages left in the transcript. So there’s more to come.
And there’s more to come in court. On Wednesday, the judge will hear arguments on the NFL’s motion for judgment as a matter of law.
Eventually, the appeals will happen. Given that $14.1 billion is on the line, it will go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Multiple additional years will transpire before it’s done.
Along the way, the question is whether the NFL will change the pricing structure of Sunday Ticket to avoid further liability. Or whether it will just get rid of Sunday Ticket altogether.
And whether and to what extent the owners will try to foist some of the $14.1 billion onto others. Starting with the players.
We’ll continue to cover the case, and summarize the transcript, at our dedicated page with all Sunday Ticket stories. For those who purchased Sunday Ticket from 2011 through 2022, a not-small check could eventually be coming. For those who want to keep buying it, there’s a chance it will become a lot easier and cheaper to get.
Win or lose, here’s the inescapable truth. The NFL exploited its most zealous fans to pay far more than they should have had to pay to watch out-of-market games. “Choice” came at a cost high enough to get most displaced fans to watch whichever games they could get in their local markets, which allowed the NFL to double dip in the billion-dollar buckets presented to them by DirectTV and CBS/Fox.