Appellate Court Orders New Trial on NFL Damages

A federal appeals court has reinstated a verdict that found the National Football League liable for $4.7 billion in damages, forcing a new trial to determine the final payout. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued this ruling on Friday, overturning a decision by U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez that had dismissed the jury’s award just one month after it was handed down.

The case stems from a class-action lawsuit filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco. It covers 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses across the United States. These customers paid for the “Sunday Ticket” package on DirecTV to watch out-of-market games between the 2011 and 2022 seasons. The plaintiffs argued that the NFL violated antitrust laws by selling the package at an inflated price and restricting it to a single satellite provider.

In June 2024, a jury consisting of five men and three women found the league liable. They awarded $4,610,331,671.74 to the residential class and $96,928,272.90 to the commercial class. Because federal antitrust laws allow for treble damages, the potential liability reached $14,121,779,833.92. Judge Gutierrez initially reversed this verdict, ruling that the testimony of two expert witnesses for the subscribers relied on flawed methodologies and should have been excluded.

The three-judge appellate panel disagreed with that procedural decision. Judge Anthony D. Johnstone wrote that expert opinions are not unreliable simply because they can be challenged. He stated that such opinions are for the jury to weigh and that a verdict must stand unless it is clearly unsupported by evidence. The panel noted that reasonable jurors could debate whether college and professional football telecasts are sufficiently similar or how out-of-market games would have been available without the NFL's conduct. Those questions were for the jury to decide, not the judge.

However, the appellate court agreed with the lower court on one point: the jury did not follow the judge's specific instructions on calculating damages. The panel found that the jury relied on guesswork or speculation and created its own calculations. The case has been sent back to the district court in Los Angeles to reinstate the liability verdict and hold a new trial solely on the amount of damages.

The NFL maintains that its media distribution strategy is the most fan-friendly in sports and entertainment. In a statement, the league pointed to the fact that 100 percent of NFL games are broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of participating teams. The league also cited national distribution of its most popular games and additional options like RedZone and NFL Plus. The “Sunday Ticket” package moved to YouTube in 2023 under a seven-year agreement.

Attorneys for both sides are currently considering their options following the appellate ruling. The original lawsuit was dismissed in 2017 by U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell, who ruled that “Sunday Ticket” did not reduce the output of NFL games. That decision was overturned two years later by the 9th Circuit, allowing the case to proceed. In 2023, Judge Gutierrez certified the case as a class action, leading to the 2024 trial.