The NFL is a non-profit? Yep, pays no taxes.

[ksoze]

The National Football League generates about $9.5 billion in revenue each year. It is, by Forbes’ estimate, the most valuable sports league in the world. Its commissioner, Roger Goodell, makes $44 million in a year. And yet, the NFL’s head office has long been allowed to operate as a tax-exempt nonprofit—as if its sole purpose for existence wasn’t to extract wads of cash from the wallets of American sports fans.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2014/09/the_nfl_should_lose_its_tax_exempt_status_the_league_is_not_a_nonprofit.html

[Xyzse]

1. They are? This is news to me.

I wonder how they pull off their accounting to do that.

They must hit a razor thin line to do so.

[aikoaiko]

2. I've read that its more complicated than that.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/nfl-tax-exempt-status-means-they-pay-more-taxes/

The NFL is a tax-exempt organization. No, it isn’t a non-profit. Yes, it pays massive amounts of taxes–more than it would if it weren’t tax exempt. While Major League Baseball’s fabled exemption from anti-trust laws is well known, most people likely didn’t realize the National Football League was tax-exempt until Senator Tom Coburn (R, OK) called for reviewing it a couple weeks back. It turns out that the National Hockey League (NHL) and Professional Golf Association (PGA) has the same status. According to one estimate, stripping all these exemptions could bring in $109 million in tax revenue over the next ten years (which is to say, essentially nothing).

But Forbes’ Peter J. Reilly explains that the filing status is likely costing the NFL more that it saves. He looks at the League’s Form 990 for clues.

From the Form 990 we learn that the NFL has just over a quarter billion in revenue. Does that strike you as kind of low ? What with all those TV advertisements and everything. The thing is that money does not belong to the NFL. The bulk of the NFL’s revenue is membership dues. It also collects about half a million in fines and penalties and has slightly less than $200,000 in investment income. There are some people making good money working for the NFL. President Roger Goodell had reportable compensation of nearly thirty million. The really big money is not with the NFL. Rather it is with the 32 teams that constitute its members.
[...]
Despite football’s quasi-religious status, the NFL is not exempt under 501(c)(3). It is exempt under 501(c)(6) which is defined as:
Business leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, boards of trade, or professional football leagues (whether or not administering a pension fund for football players), not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.

[rurallib]

4. Thought sure it would be as a religious organization

[unblock]

5. yeah, $109 million is essentially nothing to me, too.

yeah, i mean sure, it's a tiny portion of the federal deficit, but if that logic works for them then why am i not tax-exempt? i'm a much smaller portion!

[GusBob]

3. I think their is some confusion on this issue

the front office is tax exempt, but it distributes income to the teams and they pay taxes. I think>????

[ksoze]

10. They are privately held - who knows?

Between tax breaks to construct stadiums, abatements of property taxes, long-term low-cost loans, and even payments to keep teams where they are, who knows what they pay?

[librechik]

6. THAT is absurd!

What group are they assisting? Talented young athletes? While charging $1500 for tickets?

That frosts me.

[NYC_SKP]

7. The first Superbowl tickets were $6.00. Now they start at $2,160.00.

And go up from there.

Fuck the NFL.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. The Profit Lies In The Teams

They are not tax exempt, at least at the federal level. Some might have tax breaks in their municipalities or their states, but that is shame on those legislators. The federal tax bill still applies on revenues minus expenses for the teams themselves.

[ksoze]

9. Tried to hide salaries once before...

The NFL asked Congress to grant pro football a waiver from the disclosure rule. During the lobbying battle, Joe Browne, then the league’s vice president for public affairs, told The New York Times, “I finally get to the point where I’m making 150 grand, and they want to put my name and address on the [disclosure] form so the lawyer next door who makes a million dollars a year can laugh at me.” Browne added that $150,000 does not buy in the New York area what it would in “Dubuque, Iowa.” The waiver was denied. Left no option, the NFL revealed that at the time, Browne made about $2 million annually.

[MineralMan]

11. I think it's classed as a trade association.

As such, it probably falls under non-profit status. So does the American Medical Association and most other trade associations. In themselves, they don't generate profits, by design, even though a lot of revenue passes through their hands.

The individual NFL teams, though, are not non-profits. They fund the NFL from their revenues, but the NFL, itself, probably shows no profit. So, as a trade association, it qualifies for non-profit status. I'm not supporting that status, but that's why it has that status.

[Octafish]

12. Socialism for the Oh-So-Social.

Austerity for the rest of us, who also happen to get the privilege of picking up their tab.

[joeglow3]

13. I don't think it is a very big deal

The NFL (i.e. NOT the individual teams) is set up to basically break even. If it did pay Federal income taxes, there would be little to pay. Since the NFL is not a publicly traded company, there is no limit on deductibility executive compensation.

Go ahead and remove the tax exempt status, but also recognize our politicians aren't really doing shit. This is their game: screw us over, then do some small thing, but dupe the public into thinking it is a huge thing so they can justify continuing to screw us.