In what can only be described as the legal equivalent of reversal due to instant reply, federal judge Philip S. Gutierrez granted the NFL’s motion for judgment as a matter of law in its “Sunday Ticket” Antitrust Litigation. A copy of the judge’s order is attached, and it’s worth a read.
To call this stunning is an understatement. Motions like the one the NFL filed are very hard to win. “Very hard” does not mean impossible. The reason these motions are hard to win is because the judge is essentially overturing the jury’s decision.
Here, Judge Gutierrez ruled that “no reasonable jury could have found class-wide injury or damages.”
The ruling is a complete win for the NFL.
The jury found in favor of a class action representing more than 2.4 million residential subscribers and more than 48,000 restaurants, bars and other commercial establishments that purchased Sunday Ticket anytime between 2011 to 2023. Jurors ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, awarding $4.6 billion and $97 million to the residential subscribers and commercial establishments, respectively. Under antitrust law, those damages amounts would have been trebled.
In overturning the jury’s verdict, the judge held that the jury was misled by expert testimony offered by the plaintiffs. The testimony used “flawed methodologies” that led the jury to mistakenly find “class-wide injury and damages.”
Specifically, the judge, who admitted the expert testimony during the trial, now finds the testimony should have been inadmissible, since the expert didn’t explain how out-of-market telecasts would have been available for free to cable and satellite customers. The judge said the expert reasoned the NFL would figure out how to make arrangements work without the Sunday Ticket but concluded that imprecise analysis was not sufficient for purposes of expert testimony.
The NFL attacked the plaintiffs’ antitrust theory because, among other things, the league’s broadcasting model does what other pro leagues and their teams, which require their local fans pay to watch games on RSNs via cable or satellite, don’t do: allow local fans of NFL teams to watch their games for free.
The decision is stunning seeing as the judge could have preserved the plaintiffs victory by reducing the damage number. Instead, the judge wiped out the whole verdict, giving the NFL a complete victory.
The plaintiffs can, and almost certainly will, appeal.
As it stands today, the NFL does not have to pay a penny. More importantly, the NFL doesn’t have to change its Sunday Ticket arrangement.
