$4.7 billion NFL Sunday Ticket decision overturned in bombshell

The NFL has billions of reasons to be excited right as its new season officially kicks off.

Thursday, right before the annual preseason Pro Football Hall of Fame Game began, federal district judge Philip Gutierrez overturned a ruling that the NFL would have to pay residential and commercial Sunday Ticket subscribers $4.7 billion for violating antitrust laws with the out-of-market package.

“The Court finds that the jury’s damages awards were not based on the ‘evidence and reasonable inferences’ but instead were more akin to ‘guesswork or speculation,’” the judge said in his ruling.

“Plaintiffs must prove the reasonableness of each of the assumptions upon which the damages calculation is based,” the judge had previously said in June, according to the Associated Press.

As covered by ProFootballTalk, it was not immediately clear whether this means there would be a different dollar figure assigned to the antitrust violations, or perhaps a new trial.

NFL Sunday Ticket was available exclusively on DirecTV until last season, when it moved to YouTube TV.

The original ruling would have been split amongst 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 commercial subscribers.

“Today we asked the district court to set aside the jury’s verdict in this case, which is contrary to the law and unsupported by the evidence presented at trial,” the NFL said in a statement after the prior ruling.

“The NFL’s media distribution model is the most fan friendly in sports, with all games broadcast locally on free over-the-air television in addition to many other choices available to fans who want even more access to NFL content. We will continue to pursue all avenues in defense of the claims brought in this case.”

Plaintiff’s attorney Mark Seltzer had celebrated the ruling, saying, “The evidence for the jury supported our case from the beginning.”