Making his first extensive public comments since a jury ordered his league to pay billions of dollars in a class-action suit over the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market games package, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expressed determination to appeal the verdict.
“Well, we obviously disagree with the jury verdict and we are committed obviously to following the legal process,” Goodell told CNBC’s Squawk on the Street Thursday from the Sun Valley media executive retreat in Idaho. “It’s a long process. We’re aware of that, but we feel very strongly about our position, our policies, particularly on media, that we make our — our sport available to the broadest possible audience.”
Also read: NFL Loses Sunday Ticket Case, Ordered To Pay $4.7 Billion
The plaintiffs successfully argued in the California federal court that the NFL violated antitrust laws and kept TV access to its games priced artificially high by marketing its Sunday Ticket audience at a robust price point and making it available to only the finite base of DirecTV subscribers.
Residential subscribers were awarded $4.7 million, with commercial customers getting $96 million. These damages could triple to over $15 billion based on federal antitrust law.
In his CNBC discussion, Goodell dismissed Sunday Ticket as merely a “complementary product.”
