Sunday Ticket Court Trial Starts June 5th

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Sunday Ticket trial is coming very soon

The NFL's Sunday Ticket feature has raised antitrust issues since its inception 30 years ago.

www.nbcsports.com

Sunday Ticket trial is coming very soon​

The NFL’s Sunday Ticket feature has raised antitrust issues since its inception 30 years ago. In only nine days, the NFL will defend the product at trial.

As recently noted by Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, the landmark litigation comes to a head starting on June 5.

The basic argument is that the NFL’s broadcast antitrust exemption doesn’t allow it to bundle all rights to out-of-market games and sell them as one unit. Damages could exceed $6 billion.

Almost as problematic for the league is that multiple NFL movers and shakers will have to climb into a witness box and resist the temptation to give the judge side eye.

Fischer notes that a settlement is unlikely, because the two sides are too far apart. There’s still time for the divide to be bridged. Plenty of cases settle figuratively, if not literally, on the courthouse steps.

The NFL could be banking on finding a silver bullet in the increasingly pro-business federal court system, culminating with the Supreme Court. As Fischer explains, the case presents the question of whether the broadcast antitrust exemption applies to other formats, like satellite.

That same issue is lingering for the pivot to streaming, as recently explained here.

The entire Sunday Ticket experiment involves layers and levels of antitrust issues, from the league’s sale of the rights to the customers’ purchase of the product. Even though it’s marketed as a way for, for instance, Saints fans in Pittsburgh to see all games of their favorite team, the only option is to buy every week for every team for the entire year.

Why not let a fan buy the games for one team? Or one week at a time? Or one game at a time?

Someone, somewhere has decided that the league will make more money this way. Maybe it does.

And maybe the trial starting next week commences the process of shaking up the way Sunday Ticket is distributed and sold.

 

[brucebruce]

another money grab by lawyers.

 

[dieterbrock]

I can see how this was legit years ago when you needed a contract with direct tv and needed their equipment but now with it all streaming I don’t see the relevance.
And what makes this different than mlb, nhl or nba that offers “league pass”?

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

I would love to be able to just purchase Rams games. But if it’s $20 a game, then that is $340.00. So I may as well pay the money and get all games.

 

[Jacobarch]

Our legal system has become pro cooperate business. And it's obvious.

 

[dieterbrock]

Our legal system has become pro cooperate business. And it's obvious.

Love to hear how you see that?

 

[Psycho_X]

the only option is to buy every week for every team for the entire year.

If only that was true and sunday ticket actually gave you every week for every team for the entire year.

 

[Mackeyser]

Love to hear how you see that?

If it weren’t, most of the corporate mergers of the last 40 years wouldn’t have happened. Anti-trust died with Reagan… that’s just a fact. Lots wanted that, especially after Vietnam, the Oil Crises and Stagflation. The last kinda real anti-trust action was the Microsoft consent decree in 1995 and that was a joke they continually violated with no consequence.

I keep trying to say that the guys that run things are farther from capitalism than socialists… monopolists don’t want competition… they want sole control or at the least a cartel. Moreover, they want to “sell” you something while removing any rights you have for ownership or repair. It’s crazy!

Th streaming space has gotten so out of control that BluRay sales are increasing while many studios are refusing to even sell physical media!

I mean, how many times are we gonna have “EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS” shoved down our throats? And how many economists left, right and center need to calculate the vast monopoly rents we all pay every day for no reason than for a few real horrible people (looking at YOU, Peter Thiel) to have tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth?

Also, the courts are ultra pro business. I mean, for example, Fair Use is black letter law and corporations continue to have courts back them up in violating it…

Anyway, this is meant purely from an economics standpoint (except that he FU to Peter Thiel, that’s personal)

 

[Corbin]

Anyone who reads this, please not if you find this anywhere by the NFL lawyers. I Been Curious asf over the years to see if this is true.

Will the NFL lawyers present the NFL as an entertainment business not a Sports business because it's legally classified as such?

I read on another forum the NFL lawyers stated this in the lawsuit of the fans who sued the NFL with the Pats cheating etc.

In said case the NFL stated they are deemed entertainment and all your ticket was for a seat to watch the game at that time period and not for a fair game. Can anyone else confirm or add to this by chance?

 

[Jacobarch]

Love to hear how you see that?

Not the right thread for it. I could be a smart ass on here and lay into it but that's not the point of this thread. Carry on

 

[dieterbrock]

Anyone who reads this, please not if you find this anywhere by the NFL lawyers. I Been Curious asf over the years to see if this is true.

Will the NFL lawyers present the NFL as an entertainment business not a Sports business because it's legally classified as such?

I read on another forum the NFL lawyers stated this in the lawsuit of the fans who sued the NFL with the Pats cheating etc.

In said case the NFL stated they are deemed entertainment and all your ticket was for a seat to watch the game at that time period and not for a fair game. Can anyone else confirm or add to this by chance?

This was a nonsense claim made years ago which was completely untrue and finds itself re-surfacing from time to time. And it doesn’t resurface because it has merit, it resurfaces because of fascination with smoking gun

 

[dieterbrock]

Anyone who reads this, please not if you find this anywhere by the NFL lawyers. I Been Curious asf over the years to see if this is true.

Will the NFL lawyers present the NFL as an entertainment business not a Sports business because it's legally classified as such?

I read on another forum the NFL lawyers stated this in the lawsuit of the fans who sued the NFL with the Pats cheating etc.

In said case the NFL stated they are deemed entertainment and all your ticket was for a seat to watch the game at that time period and not for a fair game. Can anyone else confirm or add to this by chance?

Literally zero correlation to the question.
Legal system slanted towards corporations? My god it is so far the other way

 

[Corbin]

Literally zero correlation to the question.
Legal system slanted towards corporations? My god it is so far the other way

Think this is a different conversation.

This was a nonsense claim made years ago which was completely untrue and finds itself re-surfacing from time to time. And it doesn’t resurface because it has merit, it resurfaces because of fascination with smoking gun

Do you mean how the NFL is filed as a Sports entity or how the lawyers of the NFL argued that they are an entertainment business and not to be upheld to the same as a Sports entity?

 

[dieterbrock]

Do you mean how the NFL is filed as a Sports entity or how the lawyers of the NFL argued that they are an entertainment business and not to be upheld to the same as a Sports entity?

Yes, that was a false claim that has no foundation. The "sports entertainment" classification has no bearing, and doesnt protect the nfl.
All sports, regardless of the classification, is not responsible for the outcomes of games. It was laughed out of court a decade ago, and rightly so.

And I apologize for the zero correlation comment, I thought I was responding to a different post

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

This was a nonsense claim made years ago which was completely untrue and finds itself re-surfacing from time to time. And it doesn’t resurface because it has merit, it resurfaces because of fascination with smoking gun

You have said this before. I couldn’t corroborate it though.

The NFL is actually designated as Sports Entertainmrnt. Football is a sport. The NFL is a Sports Organization coordinated to provide entertainment by presenting opportunities for people to watch the sport of football in area as and as an organized league with separate teams and rules.

 

[AvengerRam]

You have said this before. I couldn’t corroborate it though.

The NFL is actually designated as Sports Entertainmrnt. Football is a sport. The NFL is a Sports Organization coordinated to provide entertainment by presenting opportunities for people to watch the sport of football in area as and as an organized league with separate teams and rules.

Not sure what you are trying to corroborate.

The outcome of NFL games are not predetermined or deliberately manipulated. Anyone suggesting otherwise has the burden of proof. The mere fact that the word “entertainment” is used when describing the NFL’s product in no way proves that outcomes are controlled.

 

[dieterbrock]

You have said this before. I couldn’t corroborate it though.

The NFL is actually designated as Sports Entertainmrnt. Football is a sport. The NFL is a Sports Organization coordinated to provide entertainment by presenting opportunities for people to watch the sport of football in area as and as an organized league with separate teams and rules.

All sports are not liable for the outcomes of games regardless of their designation. Its impossible to find the legal explanation any more, it had to do with the non profit side or something to the affect. Problem is when trying to search for it you will only find countless tin foil hat commentary
It's literally impossible for "the league" to fix games or "script" a season. Alas, some choose to avoid logic.

 

[dieterbrock]

Back on topic though, reading thru the article, why is the NFL singled out? MLB, NHL and NBA all have "season pass" options, why wouldnt they be liable as well?

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

All sports are not liable for the outcomes of games regardless of their designation. Its impossible to find the legal explanation any more, it had to do with the non profit side or something to the affect. Problem is when trying to search for it you will only find countless tin foil hat commentary
It's literally impossible for "the league" to fix games or "script" a season. Alas, some choose to avoid logic.

Not true. NASCAR did it for years. It was done through pre-race engine inspections. They got caught and the sport waned for several years but it eventually recovered.

 

[Mojo Ram]

I don’t understand any of this