Ninth Circuit Revives $4.7 Billion Verdict Against NFL Over Sunday Ticket
A federal appeals court in Los Angeles ordered a new trial on damages after overturning a lower court decision that voided a jury award to millions of DirecTV subscribers.
By Paula Delgado ·
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling on Friday that restores a $4.7 billion verdict against the National Football League. The decision affects approximately 2.4 million residential customers and 48,000 businesses that purchased the Sunday Ticket package from DirecTV between the 2011 and 2022 seasons. These subscribers claimed the league violated antitrust laws by selling out-of-market games at inflated prices while restricting distribution to a single satellite provider.
The legal dispute dates back to 2015 when the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco filed the original lawsuit. In June 2024, a jury of five men and three women found the NFL liable for specific damages. The panel awarded $4,610,331,671.74 to the residential class and $96,928,272.90 to the commercial class. Under federal antitrust statutes, these amounts can be tripled, which would raise the potential total liability to $14,121,779,833.92.
Following the jury’s decision, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez reversed the verdict one month later. Gutierrez ruled that two expert witnesses for the subscribers should have been excluded from testifying because they used flawed methodologies. His decision effectively voided the financial award. The appellate panel disagreed with this procedural move on Friday.
Circuit Judge Anthony D. Johnstone wrote for the three-judge panel that an opinion is not unfounded simply because it can be impeached. He stated that such opinions are for the jury to weigh during the trial. Johnstone added that once a jury reaches a verdict, it must stand unless the evidence does not clearly support it. He noted that reasonable jurors could debate whether college and professional football broadcasts are similar or how out-of-market games would have been distributed without the NFL’s conduct.
The appellate court did find an error in how the jury calculated the final damage amount. The panel determined the jury did not follow Gutierrez’s instructions and relied on guesswork or speculation to arrive at its figures. Consequently, the case will return to the district court in Los Angeles to hold a new trial specifically on the issue of damages.
Attorneys for both the subscribers and the NFL said they are considering their options following the ruling. The NFL released a statement asserting that its media distribution strategy remains the most fan-friendly model in sports. The league highlighted that 100 percent of games are broadcast on free over-the-air television in participating team markets and that national distribution includes options like RedZone and NFL Plus.
The Sunday Ticket product moved to YouTube in 2023 as part of a seven-year agreement. The current litigation focuses on the period when DirecTV held the exclusive rights to sell the package to out-of-market viewers.
