The National Football League has suffered a massive L in the well-publicized Sunday Ticket lawsuit.
A jury in a U.S. District Court found the league guilty of breaking antitrust laws by selling its Sunday Ticket package at an egregiously inflated price.
The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class.
However, this is far from over, as the NFL will appeal the ruling. The league also issued a very strong statement denouncing the outcome.
“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit. We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment,” the league said in a statement to ESPN.
As this is a federal case and one about breaking antitrust laws (a more legal way to describe the abuses of monopolistic power), the total damages could triple and thus reach up to $14.39 billion.
If the appeal does not go the way of “the shield,” and they must pay the total damages, all 32 teams would be on the hook.
Like every other NFL team, the Baltimore Ravens will have to contribute to that hefty bill, which amounts to $449.6 million per team.
Yes, that’s close to half a billion dollars.
But you could also look at it this way: It’s a sum equal to the Lamar Jackson contract ($260 million) times 1.72.
Now, it doesn’t seem so bad.
