Jury renders guilty verdict in NFL Monopoly lawsuit, claiming Sunday Ticket prevents consumers from having the options provided by open-market broadcasting.

ATLANTA, GA – JANUARY 29: NFL Sunday Ticket at the Super Bowl LIII Experience on January 29, 2019, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

By Maliyah Simone, CRDN
Tuesday, August 27, 2024

The NFL engaged in a high-stakes lawsuit over its exclusive NFL Sunday Ticket package. The lawsuit alleges that the NFL and its broadcasting partners, CBS, Fox, NBC, NFL Network, ESPN, and Prime Video, have created an unfair monopoly in the industry of America’s favorite sport.

A group of disgruntled consumers are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit; they accuse the NFL of violating antitrust laws by only offering Sunday Ticket through a sole provider: DirectTV. The case states that the partnership between the NFL and DirectTV inflates prices while preventing market competition for live broadcasts of out-of-market games.

The lawsuit claims that the requirement of a subscription jeopardizes the public’s ability to access the content. Fans say they feel they are being forced to comply and have little to no alternatives if they wish to continue following their favorite teams.

The NFL’s defense team argued that its partnerships with DirectTV along with its other agreements are standard practice within the sports industry. The league claims that these contracts are the reason that the NFL is able to afford to continue producing high quality broadcasts.

The NFL claims that fans do have options to watch games besides the Sunday Ticket, such as NFL Redzone and other affiliated streaming options. The NFL says that the cost of the Sunday Ticket is justified, in that the cost to produce the broadcasts have only continued to rise.

On June 27th, 2024, a jury ordered the NFL to pay over $4.7billion in penalties after it found the company guilty of antitrust violations for their Sunday Ticket monopoly. It is unclear if the penalties are the max in the sentencing and some speculate more orders may yet be handed down.

The NFL is set to appeal the jury’s finding, however, claiming in an official statement that the lawsuit is “baseless and without merit”.

Fans hope that the result of the lawsuit, if the verdict is upheld, will lead to open-market broadcasts and/or a reduction in cost for the Sunday Ticket.