The Cincinnati Bengals caught a stray shot from Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones this week as the wealthy businessman testified before a court in Los Angeles during proceedings against the NFL and other entities. Jones, who allegedly has a “longstanding feud” with Bengals owner Mike Brown over the league’s revenue sharing, boasted that his Cowboys would bring in “a lot more” revenue than the Cincinnati squad if the NFL shifted to a game-by-game distribution model for out-of-market broadcasting.
“I am convinced I would make a lot more money than the Bengals,” Jones said, via the Associated Press. “I’m completely against each team doing TV deals. It is flawed.”
It’s surprising for Jones to take the side of revenue sharing, which directly results in less money for his team. However, the league stands to lose billions of dollars if found guilty of violating Antitrust Law.
Customers of NFL Sunday Ticket are suing the league in an attempt to prove the league did violate Antitrust Laws. The case entered court this month after a long pre-trial process. The lawsuit, filed by disgruntled subscribers in 2015, argues that the NFL worked to keep prices for Sunday Ticket high.
“NFL, Fox, CBS and DirecTV agreed to make an expensive toll road that very few people would be able to afford. Every single competitor in this scheme benefited,” Amanda Bonn, an attorney representing Sunday Ticket subscribers, said in her opening remarks Thursday.
NFL deals in the spotlight in Sunday Ticket case
The class-action case covers more than 2.45 million commercial and residential subscribers who could see up to $7.1 billion in damages. If the defendants are found liable by federal standards, they could owe triple that amount.
The plaintiffs are accusing the league of conspiring with the networks to maintain premium pricing on Sunday Ticket to encourage an increase in local viewing. Former NFL Network president Steve Borstein testified that Sunday Ticket was never intended to reduce CBS and Fox’s local ratings.
“The NFL always wanted ‘Sunday Ticket’ to be an additional package. That is how it was designed since its inception,” Bornstein said.
Though there are reported numbers, the Sunday Ticket trial will reveal the true number that YouTube is paying for the subscription service after entering a deal to take over from DirecTV last year. It will also reveal how much revenue the streaming service is bringing in with the special add-on package.
According to an email shown by Bonn last week, ESPN allegedly wanted to offer the Sunday Ticket package on its streaming service for just $70 per season in 2022. Bonn also showed a 2020 term sheet from FoxSports demanding the NFL ensure Sunday Ticket would be priced above $293.96 per season.
This case has garnered large crowds at the courthouse in Los Angeles. Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is presiding over the proceedings.
