The NFL will face a $6 billion class action lawsuit over claims it limited televised games and hiked the cost of “NFL Sunday Ticket.”
DirecTV has rights to “Sunday Ticket” until the end of the 2022-23 season, and the plaintiffs’ attorneys are seeking damages for those who purchased “Sunday Ticket” from the provider since 2011.
The case will have two plaintiffs classes — individual “Sunday Ticket” residential subscribers and commercial establishments.
- There are reportedly at least 2.4 million members in the residential class.
- The commercial class has around 48,000 members.
Lawyers for the NFL and its teams claim the plaintiffs’ lawyers failed to meet the legal requirements needed to form classes.
“We are reviewing the judge’s order,” an NFL spokesperson said. “We continue to believe that the plaintiffs’ claims have no merit and will vigorously defend our position in this matter.”
A trial is set to begin in February 2024.
Sunday Ticket Switch
In December, the NFL confirmed Google as the next distributor of “Sunday Ticket” in a deal reportedly worth an annual average of $2 billion. YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels will have exclusive rights to the packs in the U.S. starting with the 2023 season.
Despite the “new home for Sunday Ticket, the entire class is likely to continue to be subjected to defendants’ anticompetitive restraints on telecasts,” the judge’s ruling said.
