Can I receive a compensation for the NFL Sunday Ticket sentence and who qualifies for these payments?
A Los Angeles jury’s decision to side against the NFL is going to cost the league over $4 billion, and NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers are awaiting a payout.
It was a big win for NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers, but a huge loss for the league. The NFL Sunday Ticket lawsuit was a historic decision in an antitrust trail, and the pay out will be a substantial one, but it could take a while for fans and bars to see.
Mucky Duck made the first move
The NFL has been ordered by a federal jury to pay $4,707,259,944.64 in damages for distributing out-of-market games on a subscription service that was deemed to have broken antitrust laws at an inflated price.
The verdict was announced on June 27th, and will cover individuals who subscribed to the Sunday Ticket, and bars around the country that paid for the premium service. The lawsuit began in 2015 when a San Francisco bar called Mucky Duck accused the league of providing a service that violated anti-trust laws because it forced a subscriber to pay for the entire service instead of a package for one team’s games.
The league lumped out of market games into one service, and that was the only way for a fan, or bar to be able to watch games of their favorite teams if they were not in the same area and not guaranteed to get the games on basic cable.
How much is each customer owed?
There were 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 bars and restaurants who paid for DirecTV’s package from the 2011 season to the 2022 season. The lawsuit not only had to do with the inflated price of the subscription package, but also the limitation of the Sunday Ticket to just one satellite provider.
The LA jury found the league liable for more than $4.6 billion in damages to home subscribers and $96 million in damages to the commercial bars and restaurants that subscribed to the package during that time.
Fans who subscribed to the Sunday Ticket and are within the perimeters or this lawsuit will be paid around $1,958 and the business owners who shelled out the dough in that period will be awarded $2,000 each.
Fans and bars shouldn’t be expecting that payout to come too soon, should it ever come. There are several delays that could arise in the post trial process. The NFL is planning to appeal to the US Court of Appeals and it could go all the way to the Supreme Court. The process could take months or years, so don’t expect that check from the NFL to come in the mail anytime soon.