The NFL's biggest legal headache is back. A federal appeals court on Friday revived the jury verdict that found the league broke antitrust laws with its Sunday Ticket package. That verdict had been thrown out more than two years ago.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to the district court in Los Angeles. It told that court to reinstate the jury's finding that the NFL is liable and to hold a new trial on damages. Lawyers for both sides say they are weighing their next moves.

The class action covers about 2.4 million home subscribers and 48,000 businesses across the country. All of them paid DirecTV for out-of-market Sunday games from the 2011 season through 2022. They argued the league kept the price high by selling the package only through one satellite provider.

How a $4.7 billion win disappeared

In June 2024 a jury of five men and three women found the NFL liable. It awarded about $4.61 billion to home subscribers and about $96.9 million to businesses. Because antitrust damages can be tripled, the league's exposure could have topped $14.1 billion.

A month later U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez wiped out the award. He ruled that two expert witnesses for the subscribers used flawed methods and should not have been allowed to testify.

What the appeals panel said

A three-judge panel disagreed with that call. "Opinions are neither unfounded nor unreliable merely because they are impeachable," Judge Anthony D. Johnstone wrote. "Such opinions are for the jury to weigh at trial. Once a jury does so, its verdict must stand unless it is clearly not supported by the evidence."

The panel was not fully on the fans' side. It found the jury ignored the trial judge's instructions on damages and came up with its own numbers based on guesswork. That is why the money question goes back for a new trial.

The league stands by its model

The NFL said in a statement that it still believes its approach is "by far the most fan-friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment." The league pointed to local games on free over-the-air TV plus RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL Plus.

The fight started in 2015 when a San Francisco sports bar called the Mucky Duck filed suit. A judge tossed the case in 2017 before the 9th Circuit brought it back two years later. It became a class action in 2023. Sunday Ticket has since moved from DirecTV to YouTube under a seven-year deal.