“Committed to following the legal process,” Commissioner Roger Goodell is confident about the NFL’s odds of succeeding in its appeal over the Sunday Ticket verdict

The NFL Sunday Ticket verdict could end up costing the NFL over $14 billion.

“Committed to following the legal process,” Commissioner Roger Goodell is confident about the NFL’s odds of succeeding in its appeal over the Sunday Ticket verdict

Roger Goodell (via IMAGO)

The recent ruling in the Sunday Ticket judgment went against the NFL. The jury determined that the league should be held liable to the tune of $4.7 billion after it was alleged that the league overcharged fans for the Sunday Ticket out-of-market package provided by DirecTV. This move compelled the viewers who were interested to watch the games streamed on CBS and Fox in their local markets.

After hearing the arguments from the plaintiffs and defendants, the jury concluded that the NFL violated federal antitrust laws over a 12-season period. Over this timeframe, over 2.4 million fans paid the price for the package.

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Commissioner Roger Goodell, in his sit down with CNBC, remains confident that the league did nothing wrong and that it will succeed in its appeal, which remains pending in the 9th Circuit. Goodell is not concerned about the position the NFL finds itself in.

Well, we obviously disagree with the jury verdict and we are committed obviously to following the legal process. It's a long process. We're aware of that, but we feel very strongly about our position, our policies, particularly on media, that we make our sport available to the broadest possible audience.
Roger Goodell said

The commissioner believes that the league did nothing wrong and that the Sunday Ticket system was in place to ensure fans got the best viewing experience. 

Sunday Ticket is just a complimentary product. So we're committed to following the litigation, all the way and making sure that we get this right.
Roger Goodell added

The NFL is questioning the basis on which the jury came up with the $4.7 billion verdict

The league is hoping to win the appeal by questioning the methodology adopted by the members of the jury. The plaintiff’s expert witnesses proposed alternative methods. However, the jury opted to resort to their calculation while determining the quantum of damages suffered by the two classes in the litigation, an estimated 500,000 commercial establishments and over 2.4 million customers as per PFT.

Roger Goodell1
Roger Goodell (via IMAGO)

The league is arguing that the jury took the $294 pricing for the Sunday Ticket package in 2018 and 2019, then deducted $102.74 from the amount which led them to determine the average price paid by residential subscribers during the period. The jury then multiplied the difference amount of $191.26 by the total number of commercial and residential subscribers. 

The jury instead did precisely what the Court expressed concern about during deliberations, working with phone calculator creating (a) model. Although the jury did not detail the basis for its calculations, its highly specific damages figures leave no doubt what it did.
NFL’s statement read

The NFL is not happy that the jury arrived at the $4.7 billion number by doing the math on their phone calculators rather than considering the methods proposed.

It is no surprise that if the league were to reduce the prices on the Sunday Ticket package, it would automatically attract more viewers to avail of the service. However, it is a business at the end of the day. Commissioner Goodell understands ratings matter and when the league has an opportunity to attract viewers and make money, the rational decision would be to stick to that strategy.

The question now is if the NFL’s argument that the jury overlooked the evidence proposed by the plaintiffs to determine the damages through their method is compelling enough in front of a judge to reject the verdict. That question will be answered on the 31st of July, the date on which the hearing is scheduled for.

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