NFL franchises could be in financial trouble after $14,000,000,000 NFL Sunday Ticket verdict: Report

The NFL Sunday Ticket verdict is going to have a substantial effect on the league. According to Pro Football, the league will owe over $14 billion if the verdict stands, and that translates to about $440 million for each NFL team.

Most NFL teams are owned by incredibly rich ownership groups, many of them worth billions of dollars. However, there is a difference between the net worth of someone and the cash they have at hand to pay for things like this.

NBC Sports reports that the Green Bay Packers might be a team that struggles to pay this. They reported last year that they had $583 million in cash and investments. That would leave them with less than $150 million to operate if the NFL demanded the $440 million they owe.

That's just one team that has a known quantity of money. Others might have less and it could be even harder for them to come up with the money to pay the league. Things could get dicey quickly.

However, the league is fighting the NFL Sunday Ticket ruling. They aim to litigate this and try to escape unscathed. It remains to be seen if they will be able to do that, but they don't really have a better option as of now. If they lose, the league and the teams might be in trouble.

What happened in NFL Sunday Ticket case?

A lawsuit was levied against the NFL over the Sunday Ticket, which accused the league of violating anti-trust laws. After deliberations, a jury ruled that the NFL broke antitrust laws by selling Sunday Ticket exclusively on DirecTV at an elevated price.

The trial took three weeks. The NFL brought Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in to testify during the case, but it ultimately didn't help as they still lost.

The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to subscribers who filed the suit and $96 million to other businesses. Since damages are trebled with federal antitrust laws, the NFL may end up owing $14.39 billion in total.