Judge overturned $4.7 billion verdict in NFL Sunday Ticket lawsuit for curious reason

A little over a month after a jury awarded NFL Sunday Ticket customers $4.7 billion in damages from a class-action lawsuit filed against the league, it all went bye-bye in an instant for curious reasons.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez overturned the verdict, excluding testimony from two expert witnesses for the plaintiffs, ruining their case.

"The Court agrees that Dr. [Daniel] Rascher's and Dr. [John] Zona's testimonies based on their flawed methodologies should be excluded," Judge Gutierrez's ruling read . "And because there was no other support for the class-wide injury and damages element of Plaintiffs' claims, judgment as a matter of law for the Defendants is appropriate."

However, the logic behind the ruling is, well, interesting.

Per Judge Gutierrez's 16-page ruling, Dr. Rascher's and Dr. Zona's testimonies "were not the product of sound economic methodology."

Dr. Rascher used the distribution of college football games as an example of how the NFL's Sunday Ticket model impacted customers and competition. However, Judge Gutierrez disagreed with his hypothesis, saying the testimony assumed that without subscription restrictions, the NFL and its partners would "figure it out."

Meanwhile, Dr. Zona's testimony allegedly failed to prove that customers would be willing to pay a higher price for a competing live-streaming service. In his 16-page ruling, Judge Gutierrez stated that the argument wasn't valid because Dr. Zona's models never determined what that non-existent product "entailed."

As the Associate Press pointed out (h/t ESPN), this isn't the first time the league has won judgment on the case, going back to 2015. However, to exclude testimony after a jury verdict, while not uncommon, is rare, according to ESPN business and legal analyst Andrew Brandt .

The plaintiffs are likely to file an appeal, but for now, the case is closed in favor of the NFL.