Litigation halted the launch of Venu Sports, one of the sports-related legal cases that will bleed into 2025. The NFL saw its largest judgment—one that could have resulted in billions of dollars in damages—set aside by a federal judge. Warner Bros. Discovery’s lawsuit against the NBA after TNT failed to retain the league’s broadcast rights was settled within months.
It was the year of the lawyer in the business of sports. Front Office Sports looks back at the most notable rulings of 2024 and which cases will continue into the new year.
NFL Sunday Ticket Lawsuit Reversal
In June, a jury ruled the NFL had overcharged consumers and businesses for NFL Sunday Ticket and awarded $4.7 billion in damages—an amount that could have been tripled under antitrust law to more than $14 billion.
But the NFL filed a motion to reconsider the verdict and, weeks later, U.S. District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez wrote in an Aug. 1 ruling the “jury’s damages verdict is clearly not supported by the evidence and must be vacated.” The judge’s extraordinary move ended a decade-long effort in a case that could have led to payments to 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 business customers who paid for the NFL’s out-of-market game service on DirecTV from 2011 through 2022.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs appealed Gutierrez’s decision.
Fubo Blocks Venu Sports Launch
Days before February’s Super Bowl, Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced a sports streaming service without a name or price for the service. Eventually details, such as the name (Venu Sports) and monthly subscription cost ($42.99), came to light, but the product still hasn’t launched.
Fubo secured an injunction against Disney, Fox, and WBD in August days before Venu Sports was scheduled to go live after a federal judge ruled Venu would “substantially lessen competition and restrain trade.” The injunction remains in place, meaning the future of the service won’t be determined until 2025 as the legal wrangling continues.
WBD Sues NBA After Losing Broadcast Package
WBD failed to come to a deal with the NBA during its exclusive negotiating period, the league inked a deal with Amazon Prime Video for the “C package” of live games. After its disastrous negotiations, WBD—which has carried live games on TNT since 1989—sued the NBA in a New York court in July.
The breach-of-contract lawsuit alleged the NBA failed to give WBD a chance to match Amazon’s $1.8 billion–per-year offer. The NBA disputed WBD’s assertion in court before the two sides settled the litigation in November. WBD didn’t secure live rights in the U.S., although the company grabbed multimedia rights and the ability to create new NBA content in the U.S. and internationally. In news that broke at the same time, Inside the NBA—TNT’s popular studio show—will be carried by ESPN as the new broadcast agreements with NBC, ESPN, and Amazon commence in the 2025–2026 season.
UFC Settles Decade-Long Fighter Pay Litigation
The longest-running UFC lawsuit was settled not once, but twice this year.
The first agreement—a $335 million deal that covered both original fighter pay lawsuit filed a decade ago and another class of more recent UFC fighters—was rejected by the federal judge presiding over the case. In September, UFC and lawyers for around 1,100 former fighters reached a new deal, this time for $375 million, to cover the original class and the judge gave preliminary approval for that settlement to move forward in October.
The legal wrangling over the other class—which covers about 1,200 fighters who competed in UFC from July 2017 onward—remains pending.
Massive NCAA Settlement in NIL Case
The NCAA changed its name, image, and likeness rules in July 2021, which—combined changes to how the transfer portal functions in recent years—altered the landscape of major college sports.
But the NCAA faced a massive lawsuit first filed in 2020 that demanded money for college athletes who competed before the NIL rule change. In May, the NCAA and Power 5 conferences agreed to a framework for a settlement that was filed in federal court a month later. The deal included $2.8 billion going to former college athletes who couldn’t benefit from NIL and allow all Division I schools to share revenue with players going forward.
But ASU swimmer Grant House, TCU basketball player Sedona Prince, and Stanford soccer player Nya Harrison—some of the leading plaintiffs of the House v. NCAA—weren’t done. Earlier this month, the trio filed a letter in federal court seeking to establish a players’ association to ensure the NCAA abides by terms of the settlement.
Vince McMahon Exiled After Sexual Assault Lawsuit
Former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit in January that alleged she was sexually assaulted and trafficked by Vince McMahon. A day later, McMahon resigned as executive chairman of TKO Group Holdings and gave up his board seat.
McMahon stepped down once before as the head of the wrestling organization he purchased from his father in 1982 and grew into an entertainment juggernaut in 2022 after sexual misconduct allegations first came to light. But he then returned to the helm and spearheaded a merger with Endeavor-owned UFC to create TKO, which went public in September 2023.
The chances of a comeback are slim—and that was before another lawsuit over allegations McMahon and his wife, Linda McMahon, quietly overlooked sexual abuse committed by a now-deceased WWE employee in the 1980s. That lawsuit, filed in a Maryland court in October, is stayed pending the outcome of the state’s supreme court decision on a challenge of a law passed in 2023 that extended the statute of limitations on certain sexual abuse civil cases.
Meanwhile, Linda, a WWE cofounder, was tapped as President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Education.
Shohei Ohtani ‘Victim’ of Emblezzment Scheme
Shohei Ohtani began the year holding the largest contract in sports history and then capped his first season with the Dodgers celebrating the franchise’s latest World Series title.
In between, it came to light that the Japanese superstar was a victim of a $16 million fraud perpetrated by his longtime friend and interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. Mizuhara was indicted by federal prosecutors in April for bank fraud after he stole millions from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts. He faces more than 30 years in prison.
Ohtani was described as a “victim” in Mizuhara’s scheme and was cleared of any wrongdoing by an MLB investigation.
Honorable Mentions
- Michael Hermalyn’s legal fight with DraftKings ignited a debate over non-compete clauses.
- Michael Jordan’s racing team sued NASCAR over the organization’s “monopolistic” charter system. On Wednesday, a federal judge granted an injunction, allowing the team to compete in 2025 while the antitrust lawsuit progresses toward a possible 2026 trial.
- Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre remains a defendant in a Mississippi civil case that seeks to recoup millions of misspent welfare funds as his defamation lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe died after a failed appeal.
- Former NFL Media reporter Jim Trotter’s racial discrimination case against the NFL was settled in October.
- A slimmer Diamond Sports Group is primed to emerge from bankruptcy.
