This week, we turn our blog over to NFL Draft Bible’s Ric Serritella, who not only produces our annual NFL Combine Seminars, but who is very knowledgeable and in tune with the technology behind the game. 

Have you ever woke up on Sunday morning and checked the local listings to see which NFL games will be televised in your market, only to turn on the TV to discover the game has been blacked out? It happens more frequently than you may know. There’s an explanation, according to a $6B class-action lawsuit filed in US federal court, which accuses the NFL and DirecTv of conspiring to limit the availability of televised games in the NFL’s attempt to artificially inflate the price of Sunday Ticket.  

Google, which has since purchased the rights to Sunday Ticket (a deal reportedly worth $14B), is now entangled in the case and is being accused of withholding evidence that could be used to prosecute claims in court. The story is developing.  

There is a large portion of NFL fans and the league’s commercial clients who are fed up with the price-fixing antics as evidenced by the 2.4M people and 48,000 business owners listed in the lawsuit. Attorneys are demanding answers in court and want the hidden data from Google uncovered in what could go down as the largest media payout settlement in history. 

Last season, the cost of NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTv was $300. This year, on Google’s YouTube platform, the cost has increased to $449. Want RedZone? Add an additional $50, which brings the total costs north of $500 after taxes and fees – nearly a 70% increase! YouTube subscribers are being offered a ‘discount’ price of $349 annually ($299 before the season) but you’ll be on the hook for an additional $72.99/monthly cable service bill ($875/year). That’s beaucoup bucks! 

One of the biggest dilemmas for consumers who do seek the ‘discounted’ subscriber rate model is that they are already locked into an existing streaming service or cable provider contract. Google has made no attempt to reimburse early termination fees for new customers at this time, a tactic often implemented by cell phone companies.  

So where does the case go from here? The antitrust litigation is set for February of 2024. If found guilty of the accusations, the NFL could be on the hook for a $6B claim. It’s a figure that would represent a $187.5M hit in the wallet for each of the 32 organizations.

Google’s acquisition allows the company the rights to sell NFL Sunday Ticket through 2030, at which time cable cords may be obsolete.  

For those of you who wish to track this case, it’s Ninth Inning Inc dba The Mucky Duck v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 5;23-mc-80213-NC. We will be sure to keep tabs on the case’s progress here at ITL, since none of the NFL media rights-owned outlets, nor any of the mainstream media, picked up on this story.  

Make sure to follow along with all things football business in our weekly newsletter, which goes out at 7:30 p.m. ET every Friday. Sign up for it here.