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NFL Could Hand Denver Broncos Shocking $450 Million Bill

Posted on by angelo

Due to a recent ruling in the “Sunday Ticket” case, the NFL has violated antitrust laws and faces multibillion-dollar penalties.

An 8-person jury ruled in favor of the plaintiffs last Thursday and although the league intends to appeal the decision, $14.39 billion in damages would be divided among the NFL’s 32 teams . That means the Denver Broncos would have to pay around $449.6 million.

Ouch.

The league released a statement following the decision:

“We are disappointed with today’s jury verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit. We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features every NFL game on free, over-the-air television in participating teams’ markets and national distribution of our most popular games, complemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan-friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment.

We will certainly challenge this decision as we believe the class action claims in this case are without merit and without merit. We thank the jury for their time and service and for Judge (Philip) Gutierrez’s guidance and oversight throughout the trial.

Post-trial motions will be heard in late July. If the verdict is not overturned, the league will have to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court.

It remains to be seen what will happen to NFL Sunday Ticket, which was part of the DirecTV family from 1994 to 2022 and is now part of YouTube TV. But if the league doesn’t get its appeal, changes will be made to that package.