NFL Has To Pony Up Mind-Boggling Amount Of Money After Sunday Ticket Verdict

A jury has given its verdict in the class action suit brought against the NFL after finding that the league violated antitrust laws by only making its out-of-market TV package, Sunday Ticket, available on DirectTV (it's now available through YouTubeTV).

According to the New York Post, the jury ruled that the league needs to pay $96 million to commercial establishments who purchased Sunday Ticket, and another $4.7 billion to fans who bought the package.

Which adds up to… add those… carry the 1… $4.796 billion

The NFL has been ordered to pay out billions over a class-action lawsuit over Sunday Ticket. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)

It was clear before the verdict was even read that this was not going to go the NFL's way.

Not long before the jury came back with its decision, reporter Meghann Cuniff tweeted that they had asked for the number of subscribers and how much they had paid.

Yeah, bad sign.

However, this one could be far from over because shortly after the verdict was read, the NFL released a statement indicating that they plan to appeal the decision.

"We are disappointed with the jury's verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit. We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment," the league said in a statement, per ESPN.

"We will certainly contest this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are baseless and without merit. We thank the jury for their time and service and for the guidance and oversight from Judge [Philip] Gutierrez throughout the trial."