A lawsuit brought by NFL fans alleges the league colluded with network partners CBS and Fox, along with DirecTV, and controlled the pricing of Sunday Ticket in a violation of antitrust law. (Chris Delmas / AFP / Getty Images)
Did the NFL conspire to put the squeeze on its biggest fans, driving up the price of DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket package so subscribers would be forced to pay top dollar to watch the full array of Sunday games?
That’s what the plaintiffs contend in a class-action lawsuit that got underway Thursday in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles, the culmination of a nine-year legal odyssey. The case began in 2015 when a San Francisco pub called the Mucky Duck filed a complaint about how the league handles its out-of-market broadcasts.
The allegation is the NFL colluded with network partners CBS and Fox, along with DirecTV, and controlled the pricing of Sunday Ticket to ensure it remained expensive, thereby violating antitrust law.
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The class action was filed on behalf of more than 2.4 million residential subscribers and more than 48,000 restaurants, bars and other commercial establishments that show the games.
Among those expected to testify either in person or virtually are NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
A fortune is at stake. The plaintiffs are estimating $7 billion in damages for the period between 2011 and 2022, and those are tripled in antitrust cases. That $21 billion is enough to buy an entire four-team division.
In her opening statement Thursday, Amanda Bonn, attorney for the plaintiffs, said the case wasn’t an attack on the right of businesses to make money but instead “the dark side of the NFL, what happens behind the shield.”
The NFL argues it didn’t control pricing and DirecTV did, often giving away the product for free to attract subscribers. The league contends it…
Source link : https://finance.yahoo.com/news/plaintiffs-seek-show-dark-side-221232684.html
Author : LA Times
Publish date : 2024-06-06 22:12:32
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