The United States District Court Central District of California 1 is host to a class action lawsuit featuring the National Football League (NFL) as defendants and various plaintiffs who subscribed to the NFL Sunday Ticket game presentation which was once hosted on Direct TV. The NFL Sunday Ticket is now on Google's Youtube TV (2023). Google via youtube TV is not a player in the lawsuit, however, Direct TV is an indirect participant. Direct TV has agreed to arbitration, and will not stand in the current US District court challenge. The NFL has chosen to stand in the arena and defend itself against allegations the NFL claims are without substance.

The scrimmage originated in 2015, when a San Francisco, CA. sports bar known as the "Mucky Duck " filed a Federal Class action lawsuit. Evidently, they thought they were paying too much for the NFL Sunday Ticket venue. Apparently, the NFL was charging commercial vendors for Sunday Ticket based on occupancy size determined by the fire code. In addition, vendors complained that they could not purchase specific packages of their favorite team, but had to purchase a package for the entire league. The plaintiffs argue the individual teams are separate entities competing against one another. Thus, when the NFL negotiates on behalf of all the teams as a whole the league is violating section 1 of the Sherman Act regarding the legality of competing entities conspiring together to fix prices. The NFL teams are individually owned but not under common control.

The exclusive deal between the NFL and (at the time) DirecTV allows those companies to charge supracompetitive monopoly prices, rather than the prices that would exist if the 32 teams were competing for interest and distribution in a free market. 2

This is not the first time the NFL has had to embrace a challenge of this sort. A decade ago a case known as American Needle, Inc (Illinois) vs the NFL 3 was brought to the Supreme court. Evidently, Between 1963 and 2000 the teams handled their individual property rights individually. That is, sports team paraphernalia was handled by the individual teams(ball cap. T shirts, and stuff). After this time, the NFL collectively gave the sports paraphernalia package to Reebok (English company headquarters in Boston, Ma. ) Thus, American Needle, Inc was left in the cold. They filed suit based on the premise the teams had conspired to fix prices. The courts disagreed. The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the NFL stating the NFL was a joint venture. Those same words have been echoed by Justice Kavanaugh regarding this case. Drew Brees 4 quarterback for the New Orleans Saints and NFL player association representative wrote an opinion in the Washington post that the case could effect free agency. That is, as a joint venture the NFL could control salaries, free agency, ect. The trial has begun, and jury selection began yesterday. It expected to be a whose who event of NFL Kingsmen. On witness list is NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, and New England Owner Robert Kraft. The case should open doors as to the inside playbook of NFL Media operation and procedures, as well as, insider information on the youtube deal. Should the NFL loose this case it will cripple the league.