When the U.S. Supreme Court decided the Alston case in June 2021, the NCAA scrambled to limit potential liability arising from the longstanding ban on athletes making money from the names, images, and likenesses by opening the NIL floodgates only 10 days later. It was smart, because the Alston case (and particularly Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion) made it clear that many of the NCAA’s rules violate the antitrust laws.
The NFL might need to make similar decisions, in the aftermath of Thursday’s verdict in the Sunday Ticket case.
The class action doesn’t cover the 2023 season (on YouTube TV), the 2024 season, or any future seasons. Already, there’s a fresh class action hiding in plain sight over the pricing of Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV in 2023. It also will apply to 2024, absent a dramatic change to the current pricing.
For the NFL, an important decision must be made, right away. Will the league change Sunday Ticket in response to the verdict, or will the league let it ride through the appeal process — knowing that an eventual loss will result in several more years of potential liability?
Ideally, the league will realize that, regardless of whether the approach to Sunday Ticket violates antitrust laws, it disrespects consumers by forcing them to pay too much for the games they want to watch. Even if the NFL never has to pay a dime after Thursday’s verdict, the league has been exposed for its greed, its manipulation, its refusal to let fans affordably see any game they want to see.
They can claim they’re committed to choice. The truth is that they’ve historically made choice so expensive that they knew many fans would choose to settle for the games available on their local CBS or Fox affiliates, even if they’d rather watch another game.
All fans should hope the league regards yesterday’s verdict as a wake-up call, one that makes the league decide to make all games available to all fans, without attaching a markup aimed at getting most of them to settle for whatever they can get instead of what they truly want.