Some aspects of the 2,506-page Sunday Ticket trial transcript are compelling.
Some aren’t.
Into the “aren’t” category goes the seventh day of the trial. The 235-page document consists largely of a battle between the testimony of two expert witnesses — Dr. John Zona for the plaintiffs and Dr. Ali Yurukoglu for the NFL — wrapped around testimony from class representative Jonathan Frantz, a Sunday Ticket customer during the class period.
The testimony, which for Yurukoglu lingered into the next day of court, consisted of Zona offering testimony as to the financial losses from the NFL’s anticompetitive behavior as to Sunday Ticket and Yurukoglu’s effort to poke holes in it.
It’s good work, if you can get it. Zona charges $925 per hour. Yurukoglu charges $1,450.
Along the way, Judge Philip Gutierrez flashed frustration with the efforts of the plaintiffs’ lawyers to circumvent his rulings regarding admissible evidence.
“I am getting weary,” he said (technically on the eighth day of trial), “and this is coming from the plaintiffs’ side, when I make a ruling, it’s getting very tiring of repeated attempts to get around my ruling. And that’s happened multiple times with regard to documents, and it’s going to stop or I’m going to call you out in front of the jury.”
Later, he said this: “You’re wasting time. And I’m going to go back -- if you didn’t listen to me last week -- that I am seriously going to reduce the time because nothing was learned.”
The more significant eruption from the judge is still to come. As is the testimony of Commissioner Roger Goodell and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Which will be good, because this frigging transcript is becoming the ultimate cure for insomnia.