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The NFL is currently dealing with a multibillion-dollar lawsuit stemming from antitrust accusations concerning its Sunday Ticket television package, and the Bengals caught a stray at the trial courtesy of the testimony of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
It’s been 30 years since the NFL introduced the game-changer that was Sunday Ticket, as the revolutionary option ushered in an era where football fans had access to every single game on the slate through DirectTV after formerly being forced to settle for whatever contests were being aired in their local market.
However, Sunday Ticket is anything but cheap (YouTubeTV, which acquired the exclusive rights last year, is currently charging between $349 and $449 for the 2024 season), and in 2015, a San Francisco sports bar filed a class-action lawsuit that asserted the NFL was gouging customers and engaging in anticompetitive behavior.
It’s taken close to a decade for the case to slowly but surely make its way through the legal system, and earlier this month, a trial kicked off at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that promised to feature testimony from high-profile figures including Roger Goodell and Jerry Jones.
Both of those men took the stand on Monday, but before I dive into what they had to say, I should probably provide a bit of context.
The nature of Sunday Ticket means the package is sold to television providers at a collectively bargained price, and that revenue (which is reportedly around $2 billion a year) is evenly distributed amongst NFL teams.
As a result, franchises in bigger markets that could probably fetch a higher sum by selling individual packages are essentially subsidizing those in smaller ones, a status quo that the owners are apparently somewhat content with (the ongoing lawsuit between Florida State and the ACC reflects what happens when that’s not the case).
According to the Associated Press, Jones—who has owned the Dallas Cowboys for 35 years and made a laughable amount of money in the process—acknowledged that reality and said he supported the current state of affairs while firing a shot at one small market team that caught a bit of stray, saying:
“I am convinced I would make a lot more money than the Bengals. I’m completely against each team doing TV deals. It is flawed.”
Boom roasted.
Goodell also defended the price of Sunday Ticket while arguing the NFL is justified in charging what it does for a “premium product,” adding “Fans make that choice whether they wanted it or not” while implying it essentially boils down to elementary economic principles.
The lawsuit seeks around $7.1 billion in damages, but if the NFL is found in the wrong, that number could end up exceeding $21 billion thanks to antitrust regulations that permit for the tripling of the judgment.