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How the NFL Fleeces Taxpayers
The Atlantic ^ | 10/01/2013 | GREGG EASTERBROOK

Posted on 09/26/2017 4:12:31 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen

Taxpayers fund the stadiums, antitrust law doesn't apply to broadcast deals, the league enjoys nonprofit status, and Commissioner Roger Goodell makes $30 million a year. It's time to stop the public giveaways to America's richest sports league—and to the feudal lords who own its teams

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Sports
KEYWORDS: nflstadiums; nflsubsidy; nfltaxpayers
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* This article is from 2013 and has a bit of leftist slant but I think it is worth a read. Ticket sales are chump change compared to the tax breaks and stadium deals.

Not mentioned in the article is how politicians like Mario Cuomo get their own use luxury suites.

" Twelve teams have turned a profit on stadium subsidies alone—receiving more money than they needed to build their facilities."
1 posted on 09/26/2017 4:12:31 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen
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To: Kid Shelleen
We need to cut off the welfare.
2 posted on 09/26/2017 4:16:39 PM PDT by boycott
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To: Kid Shelleen

Then the kneeling is coming from mandates from probably several federal agencies. The federal agencies are fighting Trump with everything they have.


3 posted on 09/26/2017 4:16:51 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: Kid Shelleen

“For Veterans Day last year, the NFL announced that it would donate cash to military groups for each point scored in designated games. During NFL telecasts that weekend, the league was praised for its grand generosity. The total donation came to about $440,000. Annualized, NFL stadium subsidies and tax favors add up to perhaps $1 billion. So the NFL took $1 billion from the public, then sought praise for giving back $440,000—less than a tenth of 1 percent.”

I think I am going to puke.


4 posted on 09/26/2017 4:17:24 PM PDT by forgotten man
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To: forgotten man

Crazy how the NFL can fleece tax payers to support millionaire salaries greater than a presidents salary, and at the same time degrade the nation, and at the same time and at the same time be allowed to have a monopoly. All just weird liberal fascisms.


5 posted on 09/26/2017 4:21:37 PM PDT by inchworm
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To: forgotten man; HarleyLady27; NFHale; vette6387; flat; unkus; SkyPilot; Liz; sheik yerbouty; ...

Somehow the information you posted (below) needs to get out to We The People. This is reprehensible and gives new meaning to the word “fleecing.”

““For Veterans Day last year, the NFL announced that it would donate cash to military groups for each point scored in designated games. During NFL telecasts that weekend, the league was praised for its grand generosity. The total donation came to about $440,000. Annualized, NFL stadium subsidies and tax favors add up to perhaps $1 billion. So the NFL took $1 billion from the public, then sought praise for giving back $440,000—less than a tenth of 1 percent.”

I think I am going to puke.”


6 posted on 09/26/2017 4:23:21 PM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
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To: forgotten man
“I think I am going to puke.”

I understand entirely. It's disgusting. Beyond disgusting. I think it's way past time for the NFL to lose 501c(6) status. How can any organization claim that it's a not for profit when the commissioner alone makes over $30 million a year - and that's after being cut (it was over $40 million for 2012)?

7 posted on 09/26/2017 4:31:28 PM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: Kid Shelleen

These NFL subsidies, as well as those for other sports leagues, have made billionaires much richer at the expense of the middle class and poor. I remember Paul Allen, a billionaire liberal partner of Gates at Microsoft, telling the citizens of Seattle that if they didn’t pay $ 400 million for his stadium, he would take his Seahawks elsewhere. Perhaps now is the time for Congress to investigate these tax breaks, antitrust exemptions and subsidies, an issue on which right and left can fully agree.


8 posted on 09/26/2017 4:33:52 PM PDT by laconic
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Boycott every damn one of them, every sponsor and anything connected with the NFL or other sports groups as they protest. Stop supporting them entirely, they need US, we don’t need them.


9 posted on 09/26/2017 4:35:06 PM PDT by DaveA37
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To: boycott

LIVING PRETTY HIGH OFF THE PUBLIC TROUGH....

Just think if those dollars were in schools, libraries, roads, or, perish the thought, a lower tax bill.


10 posted on 09/26/2017 4:35:34 PM PDT by ptsal ( Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. - M. Twain)
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To: forgotten man

“....the NFL took $1 billion from the public, then sought praise for giving back $440,000—less than a tenth of 1 percent.”.......

How overly generous of the them. (sarc)


11 posted on 09/26/2017 4:37:11 PM PDT by DaveA37
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

“the league enjoys nonprofit status”

Not arguing with the essential point, but as of 2015 the league association is no longer non-profit.

The move was made so that the league is not required to make salary and other financial disclosures required of non-profits.


12 posted on 09/26/2017 4:37:42 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: Wuli
Well, isn't that precious....

Not arguing with the essential point, but as of 2015 the league association is no longer non-profit.

The move was made so that the league is not required to make salary and other financial disclosures required of non-profits.

13 posted on 09/26/2017 4:40:48 PM PDT by ptsal ( Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. - M. Twain)
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To: Kid Shelleen

The accidental billionaires who own these teams lack understanding of how they got to where they are or how to stay there.

I (personally) am not a fan of “fans” or “fan-ism”, but I get why people get into it. The owners must have zero respect for the guys who have made them rich, and they have no idea about what is about to happen to them.

Being a fan who lays out big money to live the fantasy is a state of mind, not a contract or a civic duty. Once the bubble breaks, it’s broken for good.


14 posted on 09/26/2017 4:41:40 PM PDT by Jim Noble (Single payer is coming. Which kind do you like?)
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To: boycott

Does the honchos from USAA claim luxury seats or comp tickets at the stadiums in Texas?


15 posted on 09/26/2017 4:42:03 PM PDT by ptsal ( Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. - M. Twain)
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To: Kid Shelleen

The NFL has become a political activist organization, therefore they need to be stripped of their non-profit status, and tax them them to the hilt.

Actions have consequences.


16 posted on 09/26/2017 4:43:42 PM PDT by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it. MAGA!)
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To: neverevergiveup

They HAVE to pay Goodell that much. If they paid him any less, that would be profit and they can’t have that.


17 posted on 09/26/2017 4:49:28 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: boycott

Las Angeles, Kommi Kalifornia, no subsidies!!!! Wheeee!!!!!


18 posted on 09/26/2017 4:51:52 PM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
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To: Kid Shelleen

Thank you!

We need to remember this the next time the teams come to the cities to help fund a new stadium.

We must not forget!


19 posted on 09/26/2017 4:52:40 PM PDT by dhs12345
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To: ptsal

The NFL is very close to the United Way.

I am sick of United Way extortion for their liberals causes every year too. This makes it easy to stand up to those demanding donations for United Way and SAY NO!


20 posted on 09/26/2017 4:53:21 PM PDT by boycott
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