The NFL lost a big round in court Friday. A federal appeals court brought back the jury finding that the league broke antitrust law with how it sold “Sunday Ticket.” The court didn’t bring back the $4.7 billion award, though. A new jury will decide how much the league owes.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled Friday, Oct. 30, that the trial court got it wrong when it threw out the 2024 verdict, Reuters reported. The class-action suit says the league overcharged subscribers to its Sunday Ticket telecasts for more than a decade.
In case you forgot what happened
Back in 2024, a jury sided with the subscribers. It awarded about $4.6 billion to residential customers and $96 million to commercial customers, according to The Desk. Federal antitrust law triples damages, so that number could have topped $14 billion.
It never got that far. U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez tossed the verdict and found the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses had built their numbers on unreliable assumptions.
So, what did the appeals court say?
It split the case in two. On liability, the panel said the trial court overstepped by throwing out expert testimony the jury had already heard. That included economist Daniel Rascher’s analysis, which used college football as a comparison. The panel called excluding it an abuse of discretion, The Hollywood Reporter reported. So the jury’s finding that the league violated antitrust law stands again.
On damages, the panel agreed with the lower court. The jury didn’t calculate the money correctly, so the $4.7 billion figure stays off the table and the damages question goes to a new trial.
What’s the NFL saying?
The league said it was “disappointed” and plans to seek further appellate review, Sports Media Watch reported. It also defended its distribution model, arguing its setup serves fans better than anything else in sports and entertainment. That road likely runs to the U.S. Supreme Court, which would first have to agree to hear the case.
Why it matters
Here’s McGraw Media’s read: the dollar figure grabs the headline, but the liability finding is the part the NFL should worry about. A jury already decided the league broke the law. Now the only open question at trial is the price, and whatever a new jury lands on gets tripled. That’s a lot of leverage for the plaintiffs if the league ever comes to the table. At the same time, this isn’t the $14 billion bill some feared, and the league still has a Supreme Court path. For fans who’ve paid for Sunday Ticket over the years, though, this ruling means they’re still in it.
This story was drafted with AI assistance and fact-checked by McGraw Media.
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