NFL, Sports Fans Clash on Rehearing in DirecTV Sunday Ticket Suit

The NFL and a variety of sports bars and individuals are at odds over potential rehearing of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' reversal of a lower court dismissal of a class-action antitrust complaint on DirecTV's Sunday Ticket package (see 1908140015). The plaintiff-appellants sports fans said Tuesday in a docket 17-56119 opposition to rehearing en banc (in Pacer) that the panel decision that they had a valid claim for relief was unanimous and there's no conflict with any Supreme Court or 9th Circuit precedent. They also said the defendants are free to try to show in the case that their restrictions on football game telecasts aren't anticompetitive. The NFL defendant-appellees, in a petition (in Pacer) for rehearing en banc, said the reversal creates intra-circuit conflicts and goes against the Supreme Court's 1977 Illinois Brick decision on indirect purchasers pursuing antitrust damages claims.