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NFL’s $6 BILLION ‘price-fixing’ lawsuit: Judge plans to order Google to share details of Sunday Ticket media rights deal as plaintiffs claim league artificially inflates prices costs
The plaintiffs asked a judge to compel Google to respond to a request for information.
Google is not a party to the lengthy antitrust lawsuit, which is due to go to trial in 2024
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Google has been sued in US federal court over its multi-billion dollar deal with the NFL to exclusively own the rights to broadcast the “Sunday Ticket” package of televised professional games.
Lawyers representing Sunday Ticket’s residential and business subscriber categories filed the lawsuit Monday in federal court in San Jose, Calif.
They asked a judge to compel Google to respond to a request for information in plaintiffs’ lawsuit against the NFL and DirecTV, which Google will take over as host of Sunday Ticket.
The plaintiffs are seeking $6 billion in damages for their allegations that the NFL, its teams and DirecTV conspired to limit the availability of televised games, which artificially raised the price of the Sunday Ticket. Programming features out-of-market Sunday afternoon matches that are not available for free on some national broadcasters.
Google is not a party to the lengthy antitrust lawsuit, which is scheduled to go to trial early next year.
The NFL has denied the price-fixing charges in the ongoing class action lawsuit.
But plaintiffs’ attorneys say in their subpoena that the tech giant is unfairly withholding information that could be used to pursue lawsuits against the NFL and DirecTV.
Representatives for Google and the NFL declined to comment on Tuesday.
The NFL dismissed the plaintiffs’ price-fixing allegations, saying the league’s exclusive distribution deal was “presumably legal.”
They also said the plaintiffs had failed – after dozens of depositions and the disclosure of hundreds of thousands of documents – to identify “any evidence that could turn a lawful exclusive distribution agreement into an illegal antitrust conspiracy.”
The plaintiffs are seeking information from Google, including retail prices, rights and subscriber numbers. The attorneys said they want to know more about any “influence” the NFL has had on Google.
Google’s lawyers said producing the requested information would be “unduly burdensome.”
Plaintiffs’ attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NFL Sunday Ticket will be available via subscription on Google’s YouTube platform beginning with the next NFL season through 2030.
The plaintiffs are seeking information from Google, including retail pricing and copyright.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys said in their filing that Google, after “several discussions”, only agreed to provide three documents – described as “summary presentations” – relating to its Sunday Ticket deal with the NFL.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys said that information “doesn’t even scratch the surface” of information relevant to the litigation.
“Evidence that the NFL imposed restrictions on Google will support plaintiffs’ assertions that the NFL imposed these same restrictions on DirecTV during the Class Period, to the detriment of consumers,” plaintiffs’ attorneys said in their subpoena. to appear.
The case is Ninth Inning Inc dba The Mucky Duck v. Google LLC, US District Court, Northern District of California, 5:23-mc-80213-NC.