The US National Football League (NFL) must face a $6 billion class action alleging it unlawfully limited televised games and drove up the cost of its “Sunday Ticket” package, a US judge ruled on Tuesday.
Sunday Ticket lets subscribers watch local and out-of-market games on Sunday, while football fans otherwise in any given market can only see a limited number of games.
Read more: NFL Sunday Ticket Plaintiffs Push For Class Certification In Antitrust Suit
The case will be divided into two sets of plaintiffs classes – individual Sunday Ticket residential subscribers and commercial establishments, such as hotels and bars.
US District Judge Philip Gutierrez in Los Angeles certified the case as a class action against the NFL and its teams, a key step for plaintiffs’ lawyers in cases that can involve many potential individual claims.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys are seeking as much as $6 billion in damages for individuals and commercial entities that purchased Sunday Ticket from DirecTV since 2011, according to an expert’s report the plaintiffs submitted to the court.
