The NFL has laid the groundwork for its legal defense after jury rules against the league in “Sunday Ticket” trial.
The NFL has responded to the verdict in the antitrust case surrounding its “Sunday Ticket” offering in which a jury found the league liable to $4.7b in damages, a figure that would be tripled under antitrust law. The league filed a motion to Judge Philip Gutierrez on July 3rd asking that he throw out the verdict, reduce the fee to $1, or order an entirely new trial, per a report in Sports Business Journal on Tuesday.
The NFL is offering a multi-pronged defense in its efforts to throw out the case. First, the league believes damages were based on a “list price” of $294 for the “Sunday Ticket” package, rather than the $103 that most subscribers paid. Second, the league claims that the foreperson on the jury may have been biased by their status as a current “Sunday Ticket” subscriber — noting that lower prices for the package could be one outcome of a guilty verdict. Additionally, a third defense centers around the omission of the word “substantially” during Judge Gutierrez’ instructions to the jury, which the league says lowered the bar for a verdict.
If Judge Gutierrez sees merit in any of these arguments, the case could be thrown out in a matter of weeks. Should none of these arguments convince Judge Gutierrez, the league will seek an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court, and then perhaps all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court may see the league’s case favorably as they have previously ruled that damages in antitrust cases are only recoverable from the seller, in this case DirecTV, not the NFL.
In addition, the NFL has a strong argument regarding the league’s antitrust exemption, which allows the 32 franchises to pool their media rights together rather than compete against one another, an argument that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh appears sympathetic to based on a statement he submitted earlier in the case.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell defended the league’s position on CNBC while attending the Sun Valley Conference on Thursday. Goodell stated, “We obviously disagree with the jury verdict … we feel very strongly about our position, our policies, particularly on media,” continuing, “we make our sport available to the broadest possible audience. Sunday Ticket is just a complementary product. We’re committed to following the litigation all the way and making sure that we get this right.”
The league’s motion will be heard in court on July 31st. (SBJ, 7.9) (CNBC, 7.11)
