Judge throws out 4.7 billion suit against NFL

[Madcity_matt]

New York
CNN
—
A California judge threw out a jury verdict ordering the NFL to pay more than $4.7 billion for anti-trust violations surrounding its “Sunday Ticket” package, which lets fans watch games outside of their home markets but required them to buy access to a bundle of games to do so.

The league, America’s most popular source of television programming, vowed to appeal the verdict in June.

In a statement, the NFL said it was “grateful” for the ruling.

“We believe that the NFL’s media distribution model provides our fans with an array of options to follow the game they love, including local broadcasts of every single game on free over-the-air television,” the statement said.

In a court filing Thursday, US District Judge Philip Gutierrez brought up issue with the expert witnesses in the trial.

“The Court agrees that Dr. Rascher’s and Dr. Zona’s testimonies based on their flawed methodologies should be excluded. And because there was no other support for the class-wide injury and damages elements of Plaintiffs’… claims, judgment as a matter of law for the Defendants is appropriate,” the filing said.

The filing also said that “The Court finds that the jury’s damages awards were not based on the ‘evidence and reasonable inferences’ but instead were more akin to ‘guesswork or speculation.’”

The case, first brought in 2015, focused on the NFL’s package of games outside of a local market that are not shown nationally on other networks. Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the class action suit argued that by restricting broadcasts of those “out-of-market” games to the “Sunday Ticket” package, the NFL is forcing customers who just want to watch one team or a small group of teams to pay more.

[go pak go]

Frankly kind of agree with this decision.

Especially when the league now offers so many options for teams to be on a national audience and the Sunday Ticket package (on its own) has never been egregious (like over $1,000 for a season)

Even at $500 a season, it ends up being $31 a game or so.

[wallyuwl]

I already posted this in the cheese curds thread

[Madcity_matt]

I already posted this in the cheese curds thread

I didn't see it before I posted. Curious why you call them a corrupt judge in your post though?

[lupedafiasco]

Good decision to throw it out. Dumb lawsuit honestly.

[Acrobat]

I haven't really cared about this other than the fact that I didn't want the salary cap to be affected for my own selfish reasons, so this is good, I guess.

[Waldo]

Well I guess single team streaming is never going to be a thing until there's nothing left of younger audiences.

[Yoop]

Frankly kind of agree with this decision.

Especially when the league now offers so many options for teams to be on a national audience and the Sunday Ticket package (on its own) has never been egregious (like over $1,000 for a season)

Even at $500 a season, it ends up being $31 a game or so.

why would you think 500 bucks a season will retain viewers, younger people starting a family can't afford that, surely people making lower mid level income would struggle to, typically football fans also have other hobbies, and financial responsibilities that require that expendable money, 31 bucks a week for football would require eliminating other expenses.

what am I missing

[wallyuwl]

I already posted this in the cheese curds thread

I didn't see it before I posted. Curious why you call them a corrupt judge in your post though?

Didn't like jury's ruling so just threw it out. Said he was going to vacate the award jury decided on if he didn't throw whole thing out. Clearly has an agenda.

[go pak go]

Frankly kind of agree with this decision.

Especially when the league now offers so many options for teams to be on a national audience and the Sunday Ticket package (on its own) has never been egregious (like over $1,000 for a season)

Even at $500 a season, it ends up being $31 a game or so.

why would you think 500 bucks a season will retain viewers, younger people starting a family can't afford that, surely people making lower mid level income would struggle to, typically football fans also have other hobbies, and financial responsibilities that require that expendable money, 31 bucks a week for football would require eliminating other expenses.

what am I missing

Why would you think my argument was about retaining viewers?

[MY_TAKE]

Living here in MN, I have subscribed to NFL Ticket for years. That was the only way to insure I could watch every Packer game. I used to get annoyed with the price and I didn't care about all the other games. I can understand some peoples dismay. Now of course I get better use out of it with all fantasy, DFS/wagering I have succumbed to.

[dsr]

Frankly kind of agree with this decision.

Especially when the league now offers so many options for teams to be on a national audience and the Sunday Ticket package (on its own) has never been egregious (like over $1,000 for a season)

Even at $500 a season, it ends up being $31 a game or so.

why would you think 500 bucks a season will retain viewers, younger people starting a family can't afford that, surely people making lower mid level income would struggle to, typically football fans also have other hobbies, and financial responsibilities that require that expendable money, 31 bucks a week for football would require eliminating other expenses.

what am I missing

Isn't there a slate of free games every week? Football fans have plenty to watch, and if their own team is only on 4 or 5 times a season, so be it. They can surely watch other matches. Few of us have been brought up able to watch our own team every game they play, and I wouldn't be surprised if the game gets a broader support by not giving cheap options to watch just one team.