Yup. Per a 1966 amendment to the Marketplace Fairness Act, the NFL is explicitly included as a 501(c)(6) non-profit institution. Doubtless why they keep having to ask cities to buy brand-new stadiums for them …
Reshared post from +Think Progress
A little known fact about the extremely profitable pro sports league.
The NFL Is A Tax-Exempt Organization — But One Senator Wants To Change That
Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn (R) today introduced an amendment to the Marketplace Fairness Act that would end the practice of allowing professional sports leagues to qualify as tax-exempt organizations, a…
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Cracked or someone had a fantastic write up on this bullshit. It's amazing that they get as much "assistance" as they do making, sorry pulling in, as much coin as they do.
For national politicians, it's all about being able to hobnob with sports celebs and getting good seating. But the main thing that lets them get away with it are local pols and local populations who feel a local sports franchise is so important they are willing to spend many millions of dollars for the privilege.
Don't get me wrong — I enjoy, in a vague way, the local sports scene here in Denver. But I suspect they make more than enough money not to need my tax dollars to buy new stadiums. (Coors Field was a key part of the revitalization of LoDo, so that may have paid off, and the Pepsi Center does much more than just basketball and hockey — but both could still have easily been fully privately funded and still made plenty of moolah for their owners.)
http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2013-02-17/roger-goodells-salary-might-look-insane-to-everyone-but-nfl-owners Some shocking numbers in here…
Honestly, I don't care what kind of money he makes (since he's paying personal income tax on it). But there certainly aren't many legitimate non-profit organization honchos pulling in those sort of bucks.
And (via +Jon Weber) a more detailed look at that non-profit, tax-exempt status: http://sportsfans.org/2012/03/why-is-the-national-football-league-given-tax-exempt-status/