By Modasola Akanji
A jury in US court has ordered the National Football League (NFL) to pay nearly $4.7 billion in damages for violating antitrust laws. A jury of five men and three men declared this earlier on Thursday after nearly five hours of discussion of a lawsuit claiming that the league had excessively increased the price of DirecTV package.
The NFL was charged with violating antitrust laws after distributing an out-of-market Sunday afternoon game on a Premium subscription service at an exorbitant price. The jury ordered the league to pay nearly $4 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class and that the amount would rise to $12.3 billion under the federal antitrust laws.
According to reports, the lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV The subscribers added that the league restricted competition by offering Sunday tickets only on a satellite provider.