For over a decade customers of NFL Sunday Ticket had to put up with whatever might happen on any given game day. From annoying local blackouts to service interruptions to price-gouging worthy of a cocaine cartel, fans had to sit and eat it because they had nowhere else to turn to watch live games from around the league.
While that allowed the league to pillage their DirecTV customers from 2011-2022, that very greed was also a fatal flaw. The NFL has now reached the "find out" portion of the dynamic and it's bad news for all 32 teams.
According to ESPN News Services, a jury has found the league guilty of breaking antitrust laws regarding a lack of competition and overpricing for Sunday Ticket games. They have awarded residential customers $4.7 billion and commercial business customers another $96 million in damages. However, that might only be the beginning of the league's problems. Under antitrust laws damages can be tripled, which means the NFL might be liable for a total of $14.39 billion.
That comes out to $450 million per team, including the Seahawks. As it happens, that's the same price as carrying the greatest competitor in the game on your roster. Patrick Mahomes' 10-year deal with the Chiefs that he signed back in 2020 is worth a total of $450 million.
That's a spicy meatball for anybody to swallow, but it won't break the bank for any league owners, including Seahawks chair Jody Allen, whose net worth is reportedly $20.3 billion.
