Judge Tosses $4.7B Verdict Against 'Sunday Ticket'

A U.S. judge in California on Thursday threw out a $4.7 billion verdict against the National Football League in a lawsuit claiming it overcharged subscribers to its Sunday Ticket game telecasts for more than a decade.

Reuters reports the ruling by Los Angeles-based U.S. District Judge hilip Gutierrez followed arguments by the NFL that the verdict was unjustified and the result of a "runaway" jury.

The NFL in a statement said it welcomed the judge's ruling. "We believe that the NFL's media distribution model provides our fans with an array of options to follow the game they love," the NFL said.

"Sunday Ticket" is the only broadcast option for NFL fans who want to watch their teams play out-of-market games. The subscribers alleged "Sunday Ticket" prices were inflated to limit subscriptions and protect distribution rights fees that broadcast networks paid to air games in local markets.

Gutierrez in his 16-page order threw out the testimony from two key witnesses for the subscribers. He said the jury's damages verdict was otherwise unsupported by the evidence and ruled that were too many defects in the case for it to proceed at all.

"Plaintiffs failed to provide evidence from which a reasonable jury could make a finding of injury and an award of actual damages," Gutierrez wrote.

The court's ruling granting judgment as a matter of law to the NFL can be appealed to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.