Jury orders NFL to pay nearly $4.8 billion in 'Sunday Ticket' case for violating antitrust laws

[RonnieT24]

I kicked The Sunday Ticket AND Directv to the curb following the 2018 season. I had been a loyal customer of both for decades.

Oh I first bought the Ticket in 1999.. but the lawsuit only covers the last 12 years for some reason.

 

[Ranching]

M

Maybe Jerry was smart to not sign anyone. If Cap goes down or flattens out QB pay will drop.

FO, Homer!!! Lol

 

[shabazz]

Stick it do da mon.

 

[shabazz]

Oh I first bought the Ticket in 1999.. but the lawsuit only covers the last 12 years for some reason.

That's biased against our Senior Citizens

 

[Creeper]

I forget when I cancelled my subscription because I felt I was getting ripped off by the ridiculously high prices but I am sure I still had it from 2011 to at least 2016. But I an not expecting much of a check, if I even get one.

The NFL says they will appeal. It may be a while before anyone gets any money, if they get any money. The NFL is a monopoly, and they did give DirecTV exclusive rights to Sunday ticket. But is that a violation of anti-Trust laws? From what I understand, appellate courts don't like to reverse jury verdicts unless there were obvious errors in the trial. I didn't follow the trial so I have no idea if there are any grounds for appeal. I smell a settlement in the future for a lot less than $4.8 billion. After all, once the lawyers get paid, I doubt they care about what happens to members of the class.

Here is the big question for me. DirecTV lost money on Sunday Ticket. How did the Monopoly benefit DirecTV?

 

[chagus]

Even higher ticket and beer prices at the stadiums.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

DirecTV lost money on Sunday Ticket. How did the Monopoly benefit DirecTV?

I am not sure they lost money every year. I think it was mostly the last few years of the contract. If I recall it was very popular at one time but they started losing customers ......

• too expensive for some fans
• Reddick and a few other streaming outlets
• more fans started using bars
• Frankly, DIRECTV customer service is terrible

 

[RonnieT24]

I am not sure they lost money every year. I think it was mostly the last few years of the contract. If I recall it was very popular at one time but they started losing customers ......

• too expensive for some fans
• Reddick and a few other streaming outlets
• more fans started using bars
• Frankly, DIRECTV customer service is terrible

Yeah it is.. Funny thing is, before they were acquired by AT&T their customer service was some of the best I had ever encountered. They were always willing to roll up their sleeves and help work through any problem you might be having. You could get an actual techie on the phone not some helpdesk chick in the Philipines or Costa Rica reading off a script.

"Have you verified that the power is on?"
"Can you confirm your TV is plugged in?"
"Is your dish still on top of your house?"

 

[Coogiguy03]

M

Maybe Jerry was smart to not sign anyone. If Cap goes down or flattens out QB pay will drop.

That's what needs to happen anyways

 

[sunalsorises]

Couldn't they just fire Goodell instead?

 

[Flamma]

You know we're not that much under the salary cap right? It's not like we have $60m in cap space just sitting around going unused. Sure we didn't spend much this off-season, but that's because we don't have a ton to spend and we have extensions coming up that will cost quite a bit (hopefully excluding Prescott).

They weren't handcuffed, they chose to do it that way. It's like if you have 50k, and you use it to buy 1 car. Or, you can put 10k down five times and have five cars. Same money spent, four more cars. Dallas chooses the 1 car. Then says look, we have no space.

We'll call this one car Dak. Anyone that is against giving him an extension can't complain about not signing free agents. Signing Dak would create (short term) a lot of cap room. Signing Lamb would create some cap room. Signing Parsons would cost cap space.

 

[LonnieElam]

Hey man. Some of Us northerns can’t move to Dallas because we don’t want anything to do with that Texas heat. Lol

My comment was a joke (mostly), and his was a jab; a good one at that.

 

[tyke1doe]

Yeah it is.. Funny thing is, before they were acquired by AT&T their customer service was some of the best I had ever encountered. They were always willing to roll up their sleeves and help work through any problem you might be having. You could get an actual techie on the phone not some helpdesk chick in the Philipines or Costa Rica reading off a script.

"Have you verified that the power is on?"
"Can you confirm your TV is plugged in?"
"Is your dish still on top of your house?"

 

[J12B]

No one was forced to buy it

There it is everyone, the missing evidence.

Case closed

 

[Creeper]

I am not sure they lost money every year. I think it was mostly the last few years of the contract. If I recall it was very popular at one time but they started losing customers ......

• too expensive for some fans
• Reddick and a few other streaming outlets
• more fans started using bars
• Frankly, DIRECTV customer service is terrible

I don't disagree that DirecTV service is terrible, but have you every dealt with Amazon Prime service? They are all terrible for the most part.

But the point is, DirecTV with a monopoly could not make the Sunday Ticket service work. The raised prices and lost customers. But at the original prices for the product, they were also losing money. They overpaid for the service and couldn't make their money back. Perhaps that is the argument made against the NFL. As a monopoly they were able to charge DirecTV an exorbitant price for the serve and therefore DirecTV had to overcharge its customers. Is that an anti-Trust violation if DirecTV agreed to the deal?

 

[RonnieT24]

I don't disagree that DirecTV service is terrible, but have you every dealt with Amazon Prime service? They are all terrible for the most part.

But the point is, DirecTV with a monopoly could not make the Sunday Ticket service work. The raised prices and lost customers. But at the original prices for the product, they were also losing money. They overpaid for the service and couldn't make their money back. Perhaps that is the argument made against the NFL. As a monopoly they were able to charge DirecTV an exorbitant price for the serve and therefore DirecTV had to overcharge its customers. Is that an anti-Trust violation if DirecTV agreed to the deal?

This is an interesting analysis. I'd have to go back and look it up but I thought DirecTV paid 1.0 to 1.5 billion a year to the NFL for Sunday Ticket. I don't know if that has always been the rate but that do seem a little high. But remember when they first got together they had over 25 million subscribers. I would wager a good 15-20% of those (5 million subscriptions) were also Sunday Ticket buyers. So they only needed to charge 200 bucks a pop (which I think is where it started) to make that money back. And that would be in addition to the regular DirecTV service. If they got 100 bucks a pop on that then that would be $2.5 billion a year for the satelliite service and another $1 billion for the Ticket and they were doing fine. Where things went south is when AT&T bought them and they started losing customers. They are down over 14 million customers since they were bought by AT&T. Fewer customers means they have to charge more to meet their costs .. which in turn makes even more customers leave. They're in a downward spiral and it's not ending any time soon.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

I don't disagree that DirecTV service is terrible, but have you every dealt with Amazon Prime service? They are all terrible for the most part.

But the point is, DirecTV with a monopoly could not make the Sunday Ticket service work. The raised prices and lost customers. But at the original prices for the product, they were also losing money. They overpaid for the service and couldn't make their money back. Perhaps that is the argument made against the NFL. As a monopoly they were able to charge DirecTV an exorbitant price for the serve and therefore DirecTV had to overcharge its customers. Is that an anti-Trust violation if DirecTV agreed to the deal?

I don't know.......but their violation seems cut and dry. I do know the league has enjoyed a special anti-trust exemption with congressional blessing. This was always mentioned during their negotiation with the players' union on a new CBA even going back to Pete Rozell's days. In other words, they went out their way to avoid any violation or issues that would draw congressional attention. An atty on X said he expects a settlement if the league loses the first two rounds of appeal. He didn't the league would appeal to the Supreme Court coz a loss could cost them the exemption and be a game changer in how they operate. He compared the impact the Supreme Court decision had on paying college athletes.
We will see ....


The lawsuit claimed the league broke antitrust laws by selling its package of Sunday games at an inflated price. The subscribers also say the league restricted competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only on a satellite provider.

 

[CowboysRule]

They weren't handcuffed, they chose to do it that way. It's like if you have 50k, and you use it to buy 1 car. Or, you can put 10k down five times and have five cars. Same money spent, four more cars. Dallas chooses the 1 car. Then says look, we have no space.

We'll call this one car Dak. Anyone that is against giving him an extension can't complain about not signing free agents. Signing Dak would create (short term) a lot of cap room. Signing Lamb would create some cap room. Signing Parsons would cost cap space.

I am against extending him, and I'm not complaining about lack of FA activity.

 

[FVSTONE]

Lemme see.. I paid an average $300 a year for Sunday Ticket from 2011 to 2019. So that's $2700. When can I expect my $2700 refund?

GOOD LUCK with that. The NFL will probably tie up this verdict in courts for years to come with their very expensive legal team. By the time anybody get's paid out the legal expenses will chew up a large chunk of this award. Lawyers are the only ones who make any teal money in these types of cases.

 

[Vanilla2]

The law just doesn't mean anything anymore. Courts just keep inventing crap for whatever ruling they feel like.

Nobody was forced to buy this. The league has a right to its broadcast rights. Nobody was harmed here.

So does Apple break the law by being the only service to show Ted Lasso?

No but I think there has been issue with their charging cables