For a trial with potentially significant implications, the latest one is moving quickly and culminates on Wednesday.
Just three weeks after the jury was selected, they will have the opportunity to decide the case.
Joe Reedy of the Associated Press reports that it’s the final day of court proceedings. Starts at 9am PSTAlong with reading instructions to the jury.
After about 90 minutes, the plaintiff’s lawyers make the first part of their closing arguments, which takes 70 minutes. After a lunch break, the NFL’s lawyers make their final arguments to the jury, which takes another 70 minutes. The plaintiff’s lawyers then have 20 minutes to argue against the NFL, after which the jury finds the case in their favor.
Even if the jury rules in favor of the plaintiffs, the judge could still rule against the NFL regardless of the verdict. As Reedy noted, the judge on Tuesday The plaintiff’s request was denied The NFL has requested a legal ruling, but has not yet ruled on the matter. It plans to do so after the ruling.
He could have dismissed the NFL’s motion and filed a new one after the verdict was in. The fact that he set the matter aside may be a sign that he intends to rule in the NFL’s favor if the jury does not find in their favor.
So even if a jury finds in favor of a plaintiff, and the amount is national front-page news, the judge can say, “Sorry, plaintiff, you have not proven your case.”
For now, the next step is to have the jury ready to deliberate. After the jury finishes deliberating, the judge could expedite the entire case and rule in the NFL’s favor.
Billions of dollars could be at stake depending on whether jurors are persuaded by the plaintiffs’ evidence of economic loss, and even if they win, the damages awarded may be minimal, as in the USFL v. NFL case 38 years ago (the USFL won just $1, but federal antitrust law tripled that amount to $3).
Whatever the outcome, it’s a rare position the NFL finds itself in. Even if it wins, the league may need to reconsider the pricing requirements it imposes on its Sunday Ticket packages to head off future antitrust lawsuits that allege the league is unfairly demanding Sunday Ticket be priced too high as an all-or-nothing product to protect the broadcast networks that show games on local affiliates across the country.
If, as the judge suggested last week, plaintiffs’ lawyers have overcomplicated the case, new plaintiffs and a new team of lawyers could use the potential misfortunes of the current case as a blueprint for the next one.
