A California judge has overturned a $4.7 billion verdict against the National Football League (NFL) in a lawsuit alleging the league overcharged subscribers to its Sunday Ticket game telecasts.
“We believe that the NFL’s media distribution model provides our fans with an array of options to follow the game they love,” the NFL said in a statement, welcoming the judge’s ruling.
US District Judge Philip Gutierrez threw out the verdict, citing a “runaway” jury and lack of evidence to support the damages award.
“Plaintiffs failed to provide evidence from which a reasonable jury could make a finding of injury and an award of actual damages,” Gutierrez wrote in his 16-page order.
The lawsuit claimed the NFL restricted the availability of Sunday Ticket, allowing DirecTV to charge artificially higher prices as its former sole distributor.
However, the judge ruled that the jury’s verdict was unsupported by evidence and contained too many defects to proceed.
The NFL had argued that the damages amount was “nonsensical” and based on conjecture, while subscribers countered that the league’s arguments were speculative and ignored evidence presented in court.
The ruling can be appealed to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Lawyers for the subscribers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Boluwatife Enome
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