NFL ‘Sunday Ticket’ lawsuit could derail Browns plans

NFL ‘Sunday Ticket’ lawsuit could derail Browns plans

When the Cleveland Browns hired GM Andrew Berry, there was concern that the former executive under Sashi Brown would take on another tear-it-down rebuild. At Berry’s introductory press conference, the youngest GM in the league said that he would be aggressive in building the team not tearing it down.

Since then, Browns fans have seen aggressive as Berry models himself after Howie Roseman of the Philadelphia Eagles. One of the key tenets that Cleveland’s front office boss lives by is that the NFL’s salary cap is flexible. Berry has also, accurately, predicted that the NFL salary cap will continue to rise over the years.

Since Berry took over the Browns in 2020, the cap has jumped from $198.2 million to $255.4 million despite a small downturn due to the COVID pandemic. The cap depends on the league’s revenue each year which has continued to rise.

Now, a class action lawsuit against the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket” threatens that revenue.

While NFL fans might have to wait to get any sort of payout from the lawsuit, the jury in a federal class-action lawsuit ruled against the league and its teams. The potential payout is staggering:

Under federal antitrust laws, that damage amount is tripled, meaning the NFL is on the hook for over $14 billion in damages.

As noted by our Green Bay Packers site, Acme Packing Company, if the NFL loses the appeals it plans, there could be significant repercussions:

The league’s salary cap will be severely reduced to match the NFL’s payment of the lawsuit and its lost revenue stream. This is how a cap squeeze happens.

The league will get rid of the salary cap altogether, something Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has already proposed in public following questions about whether teams will now be selling their own out-of-market game packages as clubs separate from the league. This would almost certainly change the NFL as we know it.

While Berry’s bet on the salary cap going up has been proven right so far, this lawsuit could dramatically change the team’s future. Currently, with only a small bump of $5 million to the cap projected, Over the Cap has the Browns over the 2025 NFL salary cap by over $40 million.

The expectation is that the cap will rise much more than $5 million but Berry would still have some work to do. Given the number of big contracts on the books, Cleveland would be able to become cap-compliant through restructures or extensions.

So far, the Browns have not lost players off their team due to the salary cap but Berry’s plan relies on the league’s revenue stream continuing to increase. If the NFL, and their teams, are required to pony up over $14 billion, the salary cap could see a significant change, likely spread out over a couple of seasons, and derail Cleveland’s plan.