The US National Football League has requested a federal judge to prevent plaintiffs’ lawyers from seeking documents related to competing bidders for the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket,” which is at the core of a $6 billion antitrust class action in California, referring to the move as a “fishing expedition.”
The NFL and plaintiffs’ lawyers in a Los Angeles federal court discussed in a court filing on Wednesday the potential relevance of new records that could be available for inspection in relation to the allegations.
Related: NFL Goes After Insurers In Sunday Ticket Antitrust Suit
The pretrial issue concerns the NFL’s agreement with Google’s YouTube TV to broadcast Sunday Ticket for residential subscribers until 2030, which was previously exclusive to DirecTV.
The lawyers representing the plaintiffs have requested the NFL to provide communication records and other documents, including planning and analysis reports, related to unsuccessful bidders for Sunday Ticket.
The class lawyers said disclosure of communications with other Sunday Ticket contenders would illuminate “requirements as to the consumer price of that package and the anticompetitive effect of those requirements.”
