A Ninth Circuit panel restored the jury's finding that the NFL broke antitrust law but ordered a new trial just to sort out damages.
The decade-old fight over NFL Sunday Ticket pricing is back from the dead. A three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit ruled Friday that the NFL is once again liable for violating antitrust law through the way it packaged and sold the out-of-market broadcast package, reinstating a jury verdict that a lower court had previously thrown out.
A California judge had tossed the verdict after the 2024 trial, where jurors found against the league in a case brought by DirecTV subscribers who argued the Sunday Ticket setup unfairly limited their options and inflated prices. That earlier verdict had reportedly included damages in the billions before being wiped out.
The appeals panel reversed that judgment as a matter of law in the NFL's favor, but it also affirmed an order for a new trial specifically on damages. In other words, the league is back on the hook for breaking the law, but a new jury still has to figure out how much it owes.
For the NFL, this means another round in court rather than a clean exit. The case keeps alive a dispute that has already stretched for ten years, with no final dollar figure yet attached.