Lifestyle
U.S. judge overturns $4.7 billion 'Sunday Ticket' judgment against the NFL
![U.S. judge overturns .7 billion 'Sunday Ticket' judgment against the NFL U.S. judge overturns .7 billion 'Sunday Ticket' judgment against the NFL](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3010x1693+0+0/resize/1400/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F49%2F40%2F162ca6254ba0a46aeaa891cd554e%2Fap24213796479430.jpg)
The NFL logo is displayed on the field in Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 4, 2018. The judge who presided in a class-action lawsuit filed by “Sunday Ticket” subscribers against the NFL said Thursday that the jury did not follow his instructions in determining damages.
Nell Redmond/AP
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LOS ANGELES — A federal judge overturned a jury’s $4.7 billion verdict in the class-action lawsuit filed by “Sunday Ticket” subscribers against the NFL and has granted judgment to the NFL.
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled Thursday that the testimony of two witnesses for the subscribers had flawed methodologies and should have been excluded.
“Without the testimonies of Dr. (Daniel) Rascher and Dr. (John) Zona, no reasonable jury could have found class-wide injury or damages,” Gutierrez wrote at the end of his 16-page ruling.
On June 27 the jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to residential and commercial subscribers after it ruled the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service.
![NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is shown arriving at federal court June 17, 2024, in Los Angeles.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2589x2589+557+0/resize/100/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F87%2Fb0%2F6f35bb924db287a26848451ab476%2Fap24169614228252.jpg)
The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the package on DirecTV of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons.
“We are grateful for today’s ruling in the Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the NFL said in a statement. “We believe that the NFL’s media distribution model provides our fans with an array of options to follow the game they love, including local broadcasts of every single game on free over-the-air television. We thank Judge Gutierrez for his time and attention to this case and look forward to an exciting 2024 NFL season.”
Calls and emails to the attorneys representing “Sunday Ticket” subscribers were not returned.
The jury of five men and three women found the NFL liable for $4,610,331,671.74 in damages to the residential class (home subscribers) and $96,928,272.90 in damages to the commercial class (business subscribers).
Because damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could have been liable for $14,121,779,833.92.
Gutierrez did say in his decision that if he did not rule for the NFL as a matter of law, he would have vacated the jury’s damages verdict and conditionally grant a new trial “based on the jury’s irrational damages award.”
Rascher’s models were variations of a college football model. Rascher, an economist at the University of San Francisco, said during his testimony that “they figured it out in college sports, (so) they would certainly figure it out at the NFL.”
Gutierrez said Rascher’s testimony “was not the product of sound economic methodology” and that he needed to explain how out-of-market telecasts would have been available on cable and satellite without an additional subscription.
![An NBA logo is seen on an official game ball before a game, Feb. 1, 2014, in New York. The NBA said Wednesday that it is not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery's $1.8 billion per year offer to continue its longtime relationship with the league and therefore has entered into a deal with Amazon Prime Video.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3043x3043+491+0/resize/100/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F78%2F4c%2F24acf32849788c902075a7092122%2Fap24206747481922.jpg)
Gutierrez also found flaws in Zona’s “multiple distributor” models because it predicted consumers would have paid more if another service besides DirecTV offered “Sunday Ticket” and there was an unsupported assumption that another distributor — either cable, satellite or streaming — would have been available.
“Without knowing what “direct-to-consumer” meant, it is impossible to determine if it would have been economically rational for consumers to purchase ”Sunday Ticket” from an alternative distributor at a higher price,” Gutierrez said. “And, that definition was necessary for determining whether a viable alternative distributor even existed during the class period. Without that information, the Court cannot determine whether the but-for worlds without exclusivity were modeled reliably.
The jury’s amount also did not conform to Rascher’s model ($7.01 billion) by Daniel Rascher, or the model ($3.48 billion) by Zona, who was an expert witness in the case.
Instead, the jury used the 2021 list price of $293.96 and subtracted $102.74, the average price actually paid by residential Sunday Ticket subscribers. The jury then used $191.26, which it considered as the “overcharge,” and multiplied that by the number of subscribers to come up with the damages amount.
Gutierrez said the jury did not follow his instructions and “instead relied on inputs not tied to the record to create its own ‘overcharge.’”
![Colin Kaepernick (L) and Harrison Butker (R).](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1350x1350+525+0/resize/100/quality/100/format/png/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd9%2F10%2F48a0411747b8be5d811e1447f819%2Fbutker-kaepernick.png)
It is not the first time the NFL has won a judgment as matter of law in this case, which has been going on since 2015.
In 2017, U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell dismissed the lawsuit and ruled for the NFL because she said “Sunday Ticket” did not reduce output of NFL games and that even though DirecTV might have charged inflated prices, that did not “on its own, constitute harm to competition” because it had to negotiate with the NFL to carry the package.
Two years later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the case.
It is likely the plaintiffs will again appeal to the 9th Circuit.
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Lifestyle
Noah Lyles Crowned World's Fastest Man, Months After World Champion Debate
![Noah Lyles Crowned World's Fastest Man, Months After World Champion Debate Noah Lyles Crowned World's Fastest Man, Months After World Champion Debate](https://imagez.tmz.com/image/e2/16by9/2024/08/04/e220c88879d5422ea72298941e8f8926_xl.jpg)
Noah Lyles is a true world champion … crowned the “World’s Fastest Man” after winning the 100m dash — months after he told NBA champs to stop calling themselves world champions.
The Olympian just took gold in the men’s 100m in a heart-stopping finish … narrowly edging out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by .005 seconds to win Olympic Gold.
NOAH LYLES’ OLYMPIC DREAM COMES TRUE!
100M GOLD MEDALIST. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/qR6bkXLHhE
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
@NBCOlympics
In fact, the race was so close commentators initially thought Thompson won … before the photo finish proved otherwise.
With Lyles’ win, he takes home the gold and the unofficial title given to the winner of the Olympics 100m — “World’s Fastest Man” … a big honor especially considering the X beef NL engaged in last year.
ICYMI … Lyles won three golds at the World Athletic Games in Budapest last year — and promptly called out NBA title winners for referring to themselves as world champions ’cause they only play other North American teams.
TMZSports.com
September 2023
We caught up with Noah who told us he didn’t give a single you know what about how NBA players were feeling … adding they totally missed his point about wanting to give track the same level of exposure as basketball.
Now, he’s got the highest honors in his sport … and an international-related nickname to boot — your move NBA!!!
Lifestyle
Sunday Puzzle: An A.C. puzzle to beat the heat
![Sunday Puzzle: An A.C. puzzle to beat the heat Sunday Puzzle: An A.C. puzzle to beat the heat](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2015/02/07/sunday-puzzle-2col_wide-b21110a8421a06d60c432ed24cef8994ea3374db.png?s=1400&c=100&f=png)
Sunday Puzzle
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On-air challenge: Every answer today is a familiar two-word phrase or name with the initials A.C.
Ex. Summer cooler –> AIR CONDITIONER
- Type of electricity
- Something that rings to wake you up in the morning
- LAX for Los Angeles International or LGA for La Guardia
- Color prism for Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” e.g.
- Ship from which military jets take off
- Mystery writer who created Miss Marple
- Gangster known as “Scarface”
- Longtime host of “Masterpiece Theatre”
- French playwright who wrote “The Plague”
- Annual yachting competition
- Closest star system to Earth
- What Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren each wrote
- Container that sprays a mist
- Signal that danger is over
Last week’s challenge: Last week’s challenge comes from listener Adam Aaronson, of Deerfield, Ill. Think of a classic movie title in which the initials of all the words up to the last one, in order, spell the number of letters in that last word. The number of words in the title is for you to discover. What film is it?
Challenge answer: “The Wizard of Oz”
Winner: John Nacy of Jefferson City, Missouri
This week’s challenge: This week’s challenge comes from listener Judy Seaman, of Sandy Springs, Ga. Think of a famous American woman with a two-syllable last name. The first syllable is spelled like a body part, but isn’t pronounced like one. The second syllable is pronounced like a body part, but isn’t spelled like one. Who is this famous woman?
Submit Your Answer
If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, August 8th at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: include a phone number where we can reach you.
Lifestyle
How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Andrew Bird
![How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Andrew Bird How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Andrew Bird](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/08908a5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2400x1260+0+170/resize/1200x630!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbf%2F34%2F50c310c747f8aa1de0d1eacafeac%2Fla-sunday-funday-andrew-bird-lead-static.png)
For Andrew Bird, Sundays hold special meaning. Those were the days when jazz would be etched into his subconscious before sunrise — as a 20-something living in Chicago, he’d doze off to late-night music broadcasts on local radio, listening to greats like Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins.
Now, two decades later, Bird’s latest album “Sunday Morning Put-On” (with Ted Poor on drums and Alan Hampton on bass) pays homage to those early influences.
![sunday funday infobox logo with colorful spot illustrations](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/3d7e6a6/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2709x1806+0+1/resize/510x340!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1f%2F0f%2Fa4b777224a039b110ecc5ba36392%2Fla-sf-series-graphic-andrew-bird.png)
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
These days, Sundays look a bit different for the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and whistler, but they’re still a time for decompressing. “I don’t really have a typical 9-to-5, ‘Thank-God-it’s-Friday’ lifestyle, but Sunday is the closest thing to that,” said Bird, who has released 16 studio albums since his debut in 1996. “It’s the one day I can carve out time for non-work, creative things.”
Bird and his wife, Katherine Tsina, along with their 13-year-old son, have set down roots in Northeastern L.A., which they’ve called home for the last 11 years. Bird is currently on tour and will play two shows at the Hollywood Bowl in August, with Pink Martini.
For Bird, an avid mountain biker, being able to be outside any day of the year is one of the best things about living in L.A. “I love mountains,” he says. “I’m just a lot healthier here than I was anywhere else.”
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
![](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9a75660/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2084x625+0+0/resize/133x40!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F01%2Ffb%2F0d7a2f2c4700a172fb09fefc0c33%2Fsf-spots-andrew-bird-pancakes.png)
8:30 a.m.: Wake up with pancakes and jazz
We’ll make breakfast, coffee, put on a jazz record and take it pretty easy. Sometimes we’ll make pancakes, like Dutch baby pancakes with lots of fruit on top. That’s kind of a special Sunday treat. Other than that, eggs and bacon, and lots of stone fruit berries.
9 a.m.: Grab my bike and hit the trails
If I’ve got a mountain biking ride scheduled with some other folks, we’ll either meet up at Dirt Mulholland or JPL (I just say JPL for all of the trails that are in Altadena via the Arroyo Seco River). That’s my ideal spot, it’s about 15 minutes away. I’ll ride up the Gabrielino Trail where there’s horses, hikers, bikers, but it all depends on the temperature. If the weather report says 75 to 80 degrees, it’s borderline too hot. Up above when it’s exposed, it’s really more like 90 degrees. I’ve come close to having heatstroke up there.
If it’s too hot, you stay down on the river bed, which right now has a lot of water in it so you get wet going across six or seven river crossings on your bike. It’s really an almost jungle-like environment. It’s really like another world. If you’re used to Griffith Park, which is just scrub and piles of loose sand and quartz, this feels much more tropical and remote.
11 a.m.: Refuel with fresh pasta or sandwiches
After that, not too far away is this deli that I’ve just been really into lately called Ferrazzani’s. It’s part of Semolina Artisanal Pastas company and they make fresh pasta right there. Next door, there’s an Italian market that has cheese and guanciale and fresh pasta and they make like five different sandwiches. They’re all just delicious. It’s a nice spot.
![](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7b9bbf3/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2084x625+0+0/resize/133x40!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F48%2F84%2Fb7105bf34cf49cd7e7fcb95e1e28%2Fsf-spots-andrew-bird-pencil.png)
1 p.m.: Have a family sketch session
There was one day when [my family and I] went to the Norton Simon Museum and sketched modern art and that was a pretty awesome day, I have to say. The scale of it reminds me of a Chicago museum in a lot of ways, like a mini Art Institute. And I like the building itself, with all the heath piles on the outside.
My mom was an artist and she used to take me and a bunch of my friends down to the Art Institute and we’d bring sketch pads and sketch whatever we found interesting. I started doing that with my family and I don’t know why more people don’t do it. It makes it a whole different experience and you get to compare your sketches with everyone else that’s sketching the same thing. I’m really not a visual artist, but that one little tradition from childhood is something I really enjoy.
4 p.m.: Stroll through Atwater Village
We spend a lot of time in Atwater Village on Sundays. They have a farmers market and my wife has a shop there, Avion Clothier. That’s been kind of a hub for us for the last nine, 10 years it’s been open. It’s just a cool spot.
In Atwater there’s Alias Books, Proof Bakery and wide sidewalks with cafes. It has street life, which is a rare thing in L.A. and it’s designed like an old western town with a super wide boulevard that you could have a parade on, wide sidewalks, and then normal commerce as opposed to the beige corner strip mall stuff that’s all over Hollywood. If you build it, they will come. It’s pretty hoppin’ these days.
6 p.m.: Sunday family dinner
Afterward we have Sunday family dinner with my wife and son and my sister-in-law who lives down the street. We tend to make homemade bolognese. It’s a joint effort but most of the credit goes to my wife. I’m a line cook.
![](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ae07f9d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2084x626+0+0/resize/133x40!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F93%2F15%2F8bd645754b11afae32f072346e28%2Fsf-spots-andrew-bird-guitar.png)
7:15 p.m.: Watch a movie or jam with my son
And then the extended family comes over and hangs out and we maybe watch a movie all together. Sometimes we kind of split off and my son and I will watch “Rick and Morty” while my wife watches something that’s more her speed. Or my son and I will play ping-pong or tennis or something like that. He just turned 13 and he’s a really good guitarist and singer, but he hasn’t shown any desire to make that his life’s work at the moment. He got really good at the guitar during the pandemic — he plays finger-picking style guitar.
It’s kind of a tricky dynamic because as a professional musician, every time he says he wants to jam, I’m like, “Oh great, OK,” and it lasts about 10 or 15 minutes. Then he goes into a passive resistance mode. So still trying to figure that out. The key is to just kind of be very hands off but it’s hard to repress your pride [as a parent]. He has a good ear and he’s a good musician. But then you say like, “Hey, are you gonna go for a solo in the choir?” And that’s met with like, “Back off.”
![](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ab44d54/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2084x626+0+0/resize/133x40!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fdb%2Faf%2F9477e6d34308a510dc90665ac935%2Fsf-spots-andrew-bird-books.png)
9:30 p.m.: Wind down — in bed or on a tour bus
[Bedtime] depends on what phase of the year I’m in with touring or what have you. But when I’m at home, I generally start reading at like 9:30 or 10 p.m. and I’m asleep by 11, maybe. I read a lot at night. Right now I’m reading Don Carpenter’s “Hard Rain Falling.” It’s a ‘50s noir, prison, tough guy sort of novel.
If I’m on a bus tour, I’m in the bunk as soon as the bus starts rolling, by 12:30 or 1 a.m. It’s hard to describe sleeping with 10 other people in like 400 square feet as “luxurious,” but you have a day sheet that tells you what your obligations are for that day, where you have to be, what time. And otherwise you’re kind of off the hook. Life is very simple. So I sleep much better on tour.
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