Posted on 09/26/2017 5:35:24 AM PDT by Louis Foxwell
Break Up the NFL’s Corrupt Dem Monopoly Why it’s high time for the NFL to take a knee. September 26, 2017 Daniel Greenfield
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism.
An Army recruit starts off with a salary under $20,000. Thousands of active duty military personnel are on food stamps. Millions of veterans rely on them to feed their families and themselves.
That’s how we treat the best of us. Here’s how we treat the worst of us.
An NFL rookie’s minimum salary is $465,000. And the majority of NFL players are usually bankrupt a few years after retirement because they blew through most of their money. Dozens of NFL players are arrested every year on charges ranging from murder to rape to animal abuse.
2017 was a banner year for the NFL with three times as many arrests as last year.
Along with the usual drunk driving and disorderly conduct arrests, there were 7 arrests for assault/battery, 6 for drugs and 5 for domestic violence.
The Seattle Seahawks announced that they weren’t going to “participate in the national anthem” because of the “injustice that has plagued people of color in this country”. While they lost that game, they are one of the top ranked teams in arrests. Alongside the Los Angeles Rams, the Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets, all of whom showed some solidarity with the anti-American protests, these top NFL criminal teams have racked up arrests for domestic violence, drugs, DUI and assault and battery.
Is it any wonder they think the justice system is unfair? They’re criminals.
Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall was one of the early players to reject the Anthem. The Broncos supported his actions. As his teams have supported him during nine domestic violence accusations.
Did any of the women he stabbed, punched or choked have any choice about taking a knee?
It’s no wonder that so many of the NFL’s millionaire scumbags are eager to join Colin Kaepernick’s protests against the justice system by degrading our anthem.
It’s because they’re criminals.
And it’s no wonder that the NFL stands behind its thugs. If a team can shrug at a 6’4 man beating a woman, what’s a little anti-American tantrum by a prize property that makes them millions of dollars?
The only question is why are the rest of us subsidizing it?
NFL teams loot millions from taxpayers to fund their stadiums. The Seahawks have a point about injustice. And the injustice is that taxpayers had to spend $390 million on their stadium.
Who will let Washington taxpayers take a knee and opt out of being exploited by the Seahawks?
Ten New Orleans Saints players sat out the anthem. New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton expressed pride in the players who rejected the United States of America. The Saints not only enjoy a stadium paid for by a billion in taxpayer money in a city with one of the highest poverty rates in the country, but are exempt from sales tax. And receive millions every year in “inducement payments” to stay put.
Sweetheart deals like these are not uncommon. The NFL comes with a pass on property taxes (those are for little people) and taxes in general. Until 2015, the NFL was a non-profit. "Professional football leagues" was actually inserted into the Internal Revenue Code to provide a special non-profit status. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell got paid $44 million in one year. That made him the highest paid non-profit exec in the country.
The entire NFL is an illegal trust. It’s a monopoly that was illegally legalized by Congress.
That monopoly allows the NFL and its teams to cash in on television licensing and team gear. After the NFL uses its illegal monopoly to rip off broadcasters, ESPN rips off cable subscribers.
ESPN pays the NFL almost $2 billion a year. Even if you don’t watch ESPN, you’re paying $9 a month for it because of yet another illegal monopoly. If you subscribe to cable or live in a major city, the odds are good that your pocket is being picked by the millionaire racists “taking a knee” against America.
But the monopolies are dying.
ESPN is bleeding subscribers. The NFL’s anti-American turn is alienating fans. And cable is collapsing.
The NFL is built on government taking money from people and giving it to the industry. Its leftward tilt isn’t an accident. It’s a calculated move. Who are the folks most likely to bail out an industry? They’re on the left. Not the right. If your monopoly is dying, it’s time to go left and hate America.
Anthem bashing is popular with the left. And it’s very popular with the social justice bloggers who increasingly dominate sports journalism, and not just on ESPN. Hating America will score points with the left. It’ll buy the NFL more protectionism from the media and the 2020 Democrats.
The only question is why do we need the NFL?
Once upon a time there was a football free market. Multiple leagues competed with each other. And the NFL was just one of many. The NFL-AFL merger created a monster monopoly that has worked to crush any independent league through its control over broadcasting and venues.
That's what happened with the United States Football League which won an anti-trust court case against the NFL, but was forced under anyway.
The man at the center of the fight against the NFL was New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump.
The illegal monopoly that created the NFL was the work of Senator Russell Long, the son of radical criminal Dem kingpin Huey Long, who illegally took over his father’s Senate seat (previously held by his mother) and spent almost four decades in the Senate with no qualification except his last name.
The NFL got a monopoly in exchange for New Orleans getting a franchise.
Congressman Hale Boggs, the corrupt Louisiana Dem boss who went to war with the FBI, got it through in the House by appealing, “The Republicans are out to get me. I need this to save me."
And Boggs held things up until he got assurances from the NFL commissioner that the franchise was in.
That’s the corrupt Democrat deal that created the NFL monopoly. Of course the NFL thinks the justice system is unfair. It was created by a crime and it’s full of criminals.
Before the anthem protests, the NFL was just one of the corrupt legacies of Democrat rule. It’s a reminder of the fact that social justice politics, whether it’s Obama’s “You Didn’t Build That” or Huey Long’s “Share Our Wealth”, is nothing more than organized thievery from the working class.
But the NFL is no longer just a corrupt monopoly. Instead it’s becoming a radical anti-American organization that uses its taxpayer-subsidized stadiums and monopoly broadcasting rights to spread hatred toward this country and disrespect to the soldiers who fought and died for it.
America could have tolerated the NFL’s corrupt thievery. But there’s no way Americans should be subsidizing this diseased leftover of Democrat corruption when it spews hate at the United States.
It’s time for the NFL’s anti-trust exemption to go the way of Ma Bell.
Break up the corrupt Democrat monopoly of the NFL and demolish the barriers to the formation of independent leagues by taking on the NFL, ESPN and its broadcasting partners in crime.
It’s time for the NFL to take a knee and for the free market to rise.
Football must become an American sport again.
“While they lost that game, they are one of the top ranked teams in arrests.”
Leave it to Greenfield to come up with another slant on the story - a brilliant one.
No wonder these football players identify more with criminals than with everyday Americans.
I would bet Trump has someone looking into this. He probably started the ball rolling before he tweeted.
“Disingenuous. He also has free food and lodging. And recruit pay really isn’t designed for a guy who is married and has kids.”
I bet the million-dollar NFL players also get a per diem when on the road, with their lodging and food covered.
As well as uniforms - which our military have to buy themselves!
The problem is any for profit can setup a controlling non profit entity and hide all its profits there. They must have some crony friends in the IRS also.
When were you in the military?
1. The NFL has four teams.
2. The NFL as a corporate organization is set up to administer the league's affairs.
3. It costs $1 million per year to run the NFL's front office and administrative operations, and this money is raised by assessing a fee of $250,000 on each of the four teams. There is no "profit" for the NFL to report because the money they collect from the teams is exactly the same as the cost of running its operation.
4. The NFL negotiates a $10 million TV contract with a television network. Either the network pays the NFL and the NFL passes through $2.5 million to each team, or the TV network pays $2.5 million directly to each team. In either case, the NFL has $0 in profit to report.
5. The $2.5 million paid to each team from this TV contract is reported on its tax return as part of its gross income, regardless of whether it passes through the NFL or is paid directly by the TV network.
6. Each NFL team then pays taxes on its profits, which is calculated by taking its gross income and subtracting its business expenses (including the $250,000 it pays to the NFL).
Am I missing something here? Nobody is getting away with hiding any taxable income from the IRS.
I would cut the cable but I never had one. Or satellite, either.
Trust me, Uncle Sam always gets its cut. About the only way to avoid the tax man is to keep profits offshore in legally separate non-US domiciled companies.
That's why Apple and many other US corps are sitting on $billions overseas. They cannot bring them home to invest because of the tax burden. That's one of the key issues on most platform: how to repatriate those funds to enable US investments.
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3589168/posts
Along with the usual drunk driving and disorderly conduct arrests, there were 7 arrests for assault/battery, 6 for drugs and 5 for domestic violence.
The Seattle Seahawks announced that they weren’t going to “participate in the national anthem” because of the “injustice that has plagued people of color in this country”. While they lost that game, they are one of the top ranked teams in arrests. Alongside the Los Angeles Rams, the Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets, all of whom showed some solidarity with the anti-American protests, these top NFL criminal teams have racked up arrests for domestic violence, drugs, DUI and assault and battery.
Is it any wonder they think the justice system is unfair? They’re criminals.
Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall was one of the early players to reject the Anthem. The Broncos supported his actions. As his teams have supported him during nine domestic violence accusations.
Did any of the women he stabbed, punched or choked have any choice about taking a knee?
It’s no wonder that so many of the NFL’s millionaire scumbags are eager to join Colin Kaepernick’s protests against the justice system by degrading our anthem.
It’s because they’re criminals."
NO MORE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR STADIUMS FOR DAMN LIBERAL ELITES SO THEY HAVE A PLACE FOR FUN ON THE BACKS OF WORKING AMERICANS.
EFF THE NFL SH*TS.
LET THE CRIMINALS PAY FOR THEIR OWN DAMN STADIUMS.
Interesting...nice article.
“The only question is why do we need the NFL? “..........
Very simple answer Mr. Greenfield, WE DON’T need them, THEY need us. It is far past time that the NFL and another other government subsidized sports organization support themselves. I blame much of this directly on the shoulders of congress who allowed such a travesty, stealing tax payers money to support a bunch of non-productive losers who contribute absolutely ZERO to our gross national product. They sell only one thing, entertainment. Cut of the free lunch and let them fend for themselves and we will quickly see their demise. Good riddance!
Thanks for bringing the grim reality of the National Felon League out in the open.
Darn it. I just signed up for Sling. I had no idea that $9 of the $40 per month I pay goes to ESPN. Adios.
The entire NFL is an illegal trust. It’s a monopoly that was illegally legalized by Congress.
That monopoly allows the NFL and its teams to cash in on television licensing and team gear. After the NFL uses its illegal monopoly to rip off broadcasters, ESPN rips off cable subscribers.
ESPN pays the NFL almost $2 billion a year. Even if you don’t watch ESPN, you’re paying $9 a month for it because of yet another illegal monopoly. If you subscribe to cable or live in a major city, the odds are good that your pocket is being picked by the millionaire racists “taking a knee” against America.
But the monopolies are dying.
ESPN is bleeding subscribers. The NFL’s anti-American turn is alienating fans, and cable is collapsing. (1)
Disney owns ESPN!
What networks/? does Disney own?:
Disney/ABC Television Group. Disney/ABC Television Group operates Disney’s broadcast television, cable television and radio businesses. ...
ESPN, Inc. ...
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts U.S., Inc. ...
Lucasfilm Ltd. ...
Marvel Entertainment, LLC.
If freepers are really serious about this issue, they can do two things this week:
1. Cancel/cut their cable and go to a good internet to stream the tv shows they watch. Disney/ABC/ESPN and the above are owned by Disney. Each month they get a huge share of your monthly cable bill. Cut the cable, and they lose that monthly bite out of your bill. You will save a lot of money each month.
2. Use Sling Blue TV for streaming the channels you will watch. Sling Blue does not carry ESPN or Disney. So, again the evil Disney/ESPN/NFL gay hate America liberals get nothing from you.
Talking tough and posting pompous threats are cheap and not effective.
Cutting their economic tv take is like using a laser guided smart bomb to cut off/destroy their financial tentacles.
Without their monthly financial take from your cable tv, the NFL will fade away like a bad dose of the GI Trots.
If you really want to smack/hurt ESPN/NFL/Disney just do #1 and #2 above this week.
You will save a lot of money each month besides feeling better.
(1)http://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3589168/posts
Good riddance - and no more paying for their damn stadiums... how dare these effing elites dump the cost of their buildings on taxpayers... They probably pay off the city 'bigs' with free tickets and butt kissing... If that's not it, then they're just taking everyone. No more stadiums. Period.
You only pay with Sling Orange.
Sling Blue does not carry ESPN and Disney channels.
Go to Sling’s site and log in. If you have Sling Orange, cancel it and enroll in Sling Blue.
It has to be hard for you as well as people like us not to understand the simple and good logic you posted!
“The only question is why do we need the NFL?”
Indeed.
I need to put gas in my truck and buy groceries for my family - I don’t need the NFL - they are just entertainment.
Like the Dixie Chicks and David Letterman - I pay them to entertain me, when I’m no longer entertained, I have no more use for them.
The NFL no longer entertains me. They insult me.
I have no more use for them.
Yes, thanks. That is exactly what we just did. $24.99/mo and no ESPN.
“Yes, thanks. That is exactly what we just did. $24.99/mo and no ESPN.”
Good/Great! Please spread the word.
A post today, noted that if we have cable, we are probably paying $9/month for ESPN. I’m sure that Disney and ABC are costing cable subscribing people big bucks each month.
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