NFL Sunday Ticket Lawsuit explained: Why was league sued in $4,700,000,000 class action suit? All you need to know
The result of a massive lawsuit against the NFL due to its Sunday Ticket product was announced today, and the league endured a massive loss. The jury ordered the NFL to pay $96 million in damages and $4.7 million in damages to the fans, while the league said that it will appeal the verdict.
Why was the NFL sued in Sunday Ticket Lawsuit trial?
Back in 2015, a San Francisco bar named Mucky Duck argued that the league violated the antitrust law by making unavailable the out-of-market games and then not allowing packages to buy games from a single team.
The lawsuit was dismissed in 2017, but reinstated in 2019, when many bars and restaurants joined forces. The lawsuit argued that the league inflated the prices of the package (worth $349) and then made it impossible to watch the out-of-market games.
But the key point is that, under federal rules, the amount of money due to be paid by the league is to be tripled, which means that the NFL is facing up to $14 million to be paid as a result of the case.
Who sued the NFL in the Sunday Ticket Lawsuit trial?
The suit was made by many owners and NFL fans across the U.S. who were looking for restitution due to damages pointed out in the lawsuit. According to Front Office Sports, over 2.4 million fans and 48,000 commercial subscribers to the league were involved in the matter.
It's unclear how the money would be spread - but since the league is said to be appealing the verdict, certainly there's a long way to go before any dollar is transferred.
How will the NFL Sunday Ticket lawsuit verdict impact streaming games?
The headlines will surely be on the dollars involved in the deal, but that's not the groundbreaking thing about the lawsuit. If the appeal fails, NFL fans are certainly going to be able to buy packages for streamings of a single team, which could help customers in many ways - especially the commercial subscribers of the Sunday Ticket.
The NFL blackout will also be affected in many ways, as the lawsuit argues that owners of bars and restaurants had to deal with games being out-of-market. This should play an important part in the league's future streaming packages.