If judgment is entered in Sunday Ticket trial, $4.696 billion automatically triples to $14.088 billion

The lackluster, to say the least, media coverage of the Sunday Ticket trial against the NFL has included one specific effort to downplay the ultimate liability, by omission.

The league’s loss has been widely characterized as $4.696 billion. It’s not. It’s $14.088 billion.

The moment the judgment is entered, the amount will be tripled, given the longstanding and indisputable requirements of antitrust law. Thus, unless the judge throws the case out (and he still could), $4.696 billion will become $14.088 billion.

The NFL could still win on appeal. Regardless, the worst-case scenario isn’t nearly $4.7 billion. It’s more than $14 billion, along with pre-judgment interest, post-judgment interest, and attorneys’ fees covering a legal odyssey that has lasted nine years and counting.