Highlights After the jury initially ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, the judge presiding over the Sunday Ticket lawsuit threw the ruling out.
On Tuesday, Judge Gutierrez ruled that the NFL does not have to stop price gouging for their service.
Here are the possible next steps for the plaintiffs, as well as the options fans have when it comes to watching the NFL in 2024.
Through the dog days of the NFL offseason, one of the bigger storylines has been the complaints against the league for their alleged price gouging of their Sunday Ticket service. Specifically, a class-action lawsuit finally made its way into the courtroom, which could have led to a costly decision for the league.
Previously, the jury presiding over the case ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, who were arguing that the league was price gouging. As the result of that ruling, the league would have had to pay out a little over $14 billion to Sunday Ticket subscribers.
However, about three weeks ago, after originally allowing that ruling, Judge Philip Gutierrez threw it out. On Tuesday, he entered a final judgment, which will refuse to grant that massive payday that would have gone to nearly 2.4 million customers. His judgment, for now, means that the NFL will not be forced to change their high prices for the service.
What does that mean for the plaintiffs in this case? And in more important matters for the fans at least, what options do they have when it comes to watching the 2024 NFL season?
Possible Next Steps for Plaintiffs
The most-likely option seems to be an appeal to a higher court
© Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
For the plaintiffs involved in the case, their efforts have become a bit more complicated now. Although they won the favor of the jury before it was overruled by the judge, with the new ruling, it became much more of an uphill battle.
Ignoring objections from the plaintiffs, Judge Gutierrez took out the word ‘proposed’ and entered the judgment. If the plaintiffs want to continue with their efforts, they could attempt to file a motion for reconsideration from Gutierrez, although the outcome of that going in their favor doesn’t seem likely.
GIVEMESPORT Key Stat: After the jury’s initial ruling, the NFL would have had to pay out over $14 billion as a result of antitrust laws, which would have been the largest civil court loss in history.
They could file an appeal to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. From there, after a potential one and a half-year wait, the case will be seen by a panel involving three separate judges, who then will look over the case to determine whether Judge Guiterrez was right or wrong in his ruling.
The league has made it increasingly difficult to watch every NFL game
Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK
In terms of watching football, things still look expensive for fans. It could be different for casual fans who only care to watch their team, or more hardcore fans who want to soak in as much action as possible throughout the season.
If you’re a casual fan who only cares about watching their team, and you live in the same market as your team, you can probably get away with simply using your basic cable subscription. Cable will have a local CBS and Fox station, and your local team will play most of their games on that channel. For nationally televised games, as long as your cable package carries NBC, or ESPN, you can watch Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football as well.
For the more hardcore fans, it could be a bit harder. Every Thursday Night Football game this year will take place on Amazon, and there will be two Christmas Day games exclusively on Netflix. In addition, the opening-week matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil will only be available on Peacock, NBC’s representative in the streaming industry.
Of course, there’s the aforementioned Sunday Ticket service as well. The price for the basic plan, which includes each NFL game, is a whopping $679.99. If you want to throw in Red Zone, that rises to $739.99. However, for YouTube TV subscribers, the cost will be a bit cheaper.
In short, it’s expensive. The days in which every game was on cable or Sunday Ticket seem to be gone, as the league has placed more and more games on streaming services each year. It only seems to be getting more complicated, and more difficult for fans to watch games in 2024 and beyond.
As for the lawsuit, things are far from over. For now, the plaintiffs’ efforts haven’t been rewarded, but there will likely be more appeals in the future, and more court proceedings.
All statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise.