NFL commissioner Roger Goodell mentioned the league is dedicated to “following the litigation all the way in which” in an almost decade-long protection of its premium Sunday Ticket product.
A Los Angeles jury ordered the NFL final month to pay $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and one other $96 million to the industrial class of a category motion lawsuit that accused the league of violating antitrust legal guidelines in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon video games on the subscription service.
The league may very well be accountable for a complete of $14.39 billion as a result of damages are tripled below federal antitrust legal guidelines.
“We clearly disagree with the jury verdict and we’re dedicated, clearly, to following the authorized course of,” Goodell mentioned Thursday throughout an interview with CNBC. “It is a lengthy course of and we’re conscious of that. However we really feel very strongly about our place, our insurance policies, notably on media.
“We make our sport accessible to the broadest attainable viewers. Sunday Ticket is only a complementary product. We’re dedicated to following the litigation all the way in which and ensuring that we get this proper.”
The subsequent step is a post-trial movement listening to on July 31, when the NFL will ask Choose Philip Gutierrez to put aside the decision. If the decision is not put aside, the NFL will attraction to the ninth U.S. Circuit Court docket. A petition to the Supreme Court docket might observe.
In the meantime, Goodell expressed optimism that NFL house owners will agree to alter league coverage to permit personal fairness possession of its groups by the top of 2024. If that occurs, the league will doubtless cap investments at 10% per staff. A committee has been engaged on the small print since September.
“We have had an incredible quantity of curiosity and we imagine that this might make sense for us in a restricted trend, most likely not more than 10% of a staff,” Goodell mentioned. “However that may very well be one thing that we predict might complement our possession and assist our possession insurance policies. We expect we’re transferring in a really optimistic course and hopefully might have one thing by the top of the yr.”
Sports activities leagues have been investigating personal fairness choices lately as franchise values develop and the pool for particular person staff possession shrinks.
