NFL loses its antitrust suit, so what happens next?

A federal jury ruled Thursday the NFL violated antitrust laws when it distributed out-of-market games on its premium subscription service, "NFL Sunday Ticket," and awarded the plaintiffs more than $4.7B in damages. The story was first reported by ESPN.com .

So what does that mean and what happens next? Here are some answers.

Why was the NFL sued in the first place?

The NFL was a defendant in a class action lawsuit filed by "NFL Sunday Ticket" subscribers who accused the league of breaking antitrust laws by overpricing its package of Sunday games and restricted competition by limiting the package to satellite provider DirecTV.

The class covered 2.4M residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for the package from 2011-22. The suit was filed back in 2015 by a single sports bar, dismissed in 2017 but then reinstated two years later by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as a class action.

The NFL argued it held the right to sell the games under its antitrust exemption for broadcasting. The plaintiffs countered that exemption only applies to over-the-air television and not pay TV like DirecTV, who held the rights to "NFL Sunday Ticket" from 1994-2023.

What was the verdict?

According to ESPN , a jury of five men and three women deliberated for nearly five hours before determining the NFL did violate antitrust laws and awarded $4.7B in damages to the residential subscribers and $96M to the commercial plaintiffs.

What happens next?

The federal judge overseeing the case formally ordered the NFL to pay the sum of damages and post-trial motions will be heard July 31, including one to set aside the verdict altogether.

NFL Network reporter Albert Breer tweeted a statement from the league saying it is "disappointed" and that it plans to appeal the decision.

Why does this decision matter?

This case became potentially monumental when the federal appeals court revived it as a class action in 2019. It opened reexamination of the NFL's antitrust broadcast exemption, which had been in place since 1961, and publicly questioned the league's way of doing business with its media partners.

Curiously though, it hardly had any media attention until a couple weeks ago when commissioner Roger Goodell and team owners Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft testified in court .

Will anything change now?

Until post-trial motions are heard next month and the league's appeal processed, which could take months to years, there likely won't be any immediate changes to "NFL Sunday Ticket" prices or its provider — which is currently YouTube TV.

It was revealed during the trial that the NFL reportedly rejected a bid from ESPN to be the "NFL Sunday Ticket" provider and offer it to customers at a substantially lower price.

Confirmed by Kraft's testimony , the low-price proposal was turned down because it was thought it would hurt the league's network TV partners CBS and Fox who already pay billions to air regional games on their air.

The NFL could potentially appeal this ruling all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. So, while the decision could eventually be reversed, this initial win for the plaintiffs has changed the league's business landscape for potentially decades to come.