“The NFL makes no profits anyway. All of the revenues are distributed to the 32 teams and reported on their tax returns.”
And that is the problem. The act of distributing revenues to an organization that pays employees that are not on field as players or coaches, creates a business atmosphere. Black’s Law Dictionary defines business as when the word embraces everything about which a person can be employed. That which occupies the time, attention, and labor of men for the purpose of a livelihood or profit. The doing of a single act pertaining to a particular business will not be considered engaging in or carrying on the business; yet a series of such acts would be so considered. Labor, business, and work are not synonyms. Labor may be business, but it is not necessarily so; and business is not always labor. Making an agreement for the sale of a chattel is not within a prohibition of labor upon Sunday, though it is (if by a merchant in his calling) within a prohibition upon business.
Therefore, if there is a repetitive engagement of people that are compensated for, it is a business and is in line for corporate or business income tax.
rwood
Since the NFL is now considered a for-profit corporation, what NFL revenue would be reported as income?