Hey, pro football fans! Check this out!

[cynatnite]

Okay, NFL fanatics. You love your pro football. Here are some pro football facts. The NFL makes on average $9 billion a year. Yep, you heard it. $9 billion. The NFL is hoping to increase that to $25 billion in the next ten years. The NFL is also considered a non-profit organization. How is that possible you ask? Well the professional league lobbied congress back in the 60's for this nice little label by more or less cornering the market. Oh, and here is a better one for you...the NFL, with it's billions in profits pays ZERO in taxes. NONE. ZILCH. NADA. So, the next time you are cheering your favorite team, remember that the congress just voted to cut $8 billion in food stamps for poor people. But hey, what does that matter. Your team won...right?

*****

I don't care for football all that much, but the NFL is a parasitic organization. No one in their right mind should be supporting it whatsoever.

Yeah, I got my flame retardant suit on. Go ahead.

Here are some links...

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nfl-enjoys-non-profit-status/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2013/08/17/how-the-national-football-league-can-reach-25-billion-in-annual-revenues/

[frylock]

1. you got that, football fan? it's all your fault..

that the democratic-led senate voted 68-32 for a bill that cuts food stamps. obama is going to sign it because you watch football.

[cynatnite]

2. You don't think people should be aware of the hypocrisy?

What about mega corporations that virtually use the tax code to get out of paying taxes altogether.

We're always raising our arms up in anger over that, but we should say nothing about the NFL doing the same damn thing?

They fucking cut $8 billion dollars in food stamps for poor people. The NFL is getting a fucking free ride.

You don't see anything wrong with that picture? Seriously?

[frylock]

4. i think that many of us are very much aware of the tax-exempt status the NFL enjoys..

if you were to post a poll, i think you would find that NOBODY here, fan of the sport or otherwise, supports that tax-exempt status. i see a lot of things wrong with a bill that's passed in the DEMOCRATIC-LED SENATE that takes money away from people that are less priveleged.

[cynatnite]

6. I'm not letting them off the hook...

I'm just really amazed at how much outrage that gets generated here on DU about companies that get away with not paying taxes, but a sports oriented organization gets nothing. No outrage.

Is it because they don't want to feel guilty about the NFL since they love football so much? Maybe it's easier to give that company a pass.

What's wrong with putting forth the effort to make them pay their fair share? Isn't that what we demand of the wealthy?

Is this DU or did I come to the wrong place?

[frylock]

7. what you did was attempt to shame anyone here that watches and enjoys the game

"So, the next time you are cheering your favorite team, remember that the (ed. democratic-led) congress just voted to cut $8 billion in food stamps for poor people. But hey, what does that matter. Your team won...right?"

[cynatnite]

9. It's no different than when we shame people for drinking a fucking coke...

Or supporting companies or corporations who do or say something that offends us.

How many have we boycotted over the years?

Look at what's happened to Rush Limbaugh. We have pressed those companies that have sponsored his brand of hate by boycotting them.

This is what we do and what we should do to make these companies pay their fair share, to make them just as responsible as the rest of us.

Now, if you don't feel inclined to not pull your support the NFL because of this...that's your choice. If you feel shame, that's only because you see the truth and you don't like it.

This isn't something that was hidden away from the public. It's common knowledge. People love pro football so much that they are willing to ignore the ugly side of it. They don't want to know how parasitic the NFL is as an organization.

[frylock]

14. you choose your battles..

for instance, have you done any research into who may have constructed the dwelling you live in? where did the raw material come from? who delivered those raw materials? if you discovered that an unsavory corporation was your builder, or that perhaps people or resources were exploited to obtain those materials, are you prepared to pack your shit and move now?

[1000words]

3. Meh ...

In a world filled with far more tragic injustices, I just can't summons the outrage. YMMV.

[cynatnite]

5. Just think about that the next time you bitch about a corporation that pays zero in taxes...

Oh, well. I guess it's okay. I'll tell poor people to fuck off because it's more important that a $9 billion a year organization doesn't have to pay crap in taxes while they get less food to put on the table.

We don't want you to be outraged.

[AnalystInParadise]

8. LMFAO

you seem most outraged that everyone in this thread doesn't give a shit. I don't. There are more important things than how a sporting league is gaming the system.

Guess what? It is unfair, I don't like it, but I will still watch football every chance I get and enjoy the sport and the spectacle. Now call me names and tell me why I evil. I will be enjoying football when next season starts and not giving a shit what you say.

[cynatnite]

12. I never said that people should not support their favorite teams...

Have at it. Enjoy it. I've got family that is football crazy.

I just look at the NFL and I see it as a parasitic organization that sucks this country dry under the guise of non-profit. It's no different than Koch.

I guess I was foolish enough to expect people to be at least a little outraged. I've seen enough of them go full tilt on other companies.

[hughee99]

17. Sucks this country dry? How much tax should they have paid on a $77 million loss? n/t

[hughee99]

10. If I understand correctly, the "NFL" doesn't have $9 billion in revenue.

The 32 NFL teams have a collective $9 billion in revenue and those teams are NOT tax exempt. The money that is given over to the league (for Administration) is not taxed. In 2012, the league itself spent more money in operation than they took in revenue so they would have reported a loss and paid little if no taxes anyway.

"The NFL's 990 federal tax form, filed to the IRS in 2012 and available for view at the nonprofit watchdog site GuideStar, shows that during the previous year the league office received $255.3 million in revenue (almost all of it via annual dues paid by the teams) while it spent a total of $332.9 million, including $2.3 million in grants given to community groups like United Way ($15,898) and March of Dimes ($10,000).

Using its tax-exempt revenues, the league office also paid $29.4 million in salary to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, for which he owed income taxes, and it paid $35.9 million to the New York City construction firm J.T. Magen & Company, which built out a new office space for the NFL bosses and their 1,546 employees after their previous lease expired and they opted to relocate to another part of Manhattan.

While the money to pay for those expenses was derived from tax-exempt revenues, the league does not claim an off-setting federal deduction — as do for-profit corporations — for any business expenses it incurs such as moving, remodeling, travel or rent, Spector said. "

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/legal-procedure-critics-cry-foul-nfl-defends-nonprofit-status-8C11412804

[bluesbassman]

11. I believe the tax structure is abused by the NFL, facts are jumbled.

But the NFL goes one better by having developed a revenue machine through creating intellectual property, licensing logos and names for merchandising, negotiating deals for televising games, and running the schedule of games, including producing the Super Bowl. And that machine is a printing press for money:

Revenue for the league, not counting what the teams made, was $255.3 million.
The top eight league officials made a total of $50.1 million in 2011 from the NFL or related organizations, with commissioner Roger Goodell seeing about $29.5 million in his paycheck.
The league received another $10.4 million (including nearly $7.6 million to former commissioner Paul Tagliabue).
In 2011, the NFL paid $35.9 million for office construction, $13.5 million in office rent, $6.7 in IT consulting, and $6.7 million in travel expenses.
Total travel expenses topped $11 million.
It had notes and loans owed to it of nearly $620.8 million.
For all the income, expenses were even higher at almost $333 million.
The organization spent more than $1.5 million on lobbying.

So the other $8.75 billion is revenue split among the individual teams who have their own expenses. No doubt they are receiving various taxpayer supported breaks, but the revenue is still subject to normal expanses (like salaries which are then subject to tax), and at some point in the accounting they pay tax like any other business. Is it fair? Probably not, but then most of the way large businesses are treated is not fair.

[NightWatcher]

13. I'm sorry I watched the Super Bowl and $8 billion got cut from food stamps

It's all my fault.

This is worse than the "if you smoke pot, you support terrorists" line they tried a few years back.

[Whisp]

15. yuk. all this money for the NFL and kids sports & equipment for schools...

whateva! let them eat dirt.

[Iggo]

16. If I don't watch football, can those people have their food stamps back?

[ohheckyeah]

18. I don't watch football

and I might have cared about what you had to say if you hadn't adopted the unbecoming to you and degrading to the readers tactic of shaming.

Try stating your case in the manner of an adult talking to adults and I might give it some credence.

[former9thward]

19. Your link does not back you up.

This is there most recent tax return.

They lost $77 million. They lost $52 million the year before. They would not have paid taxes either year no matter what their designation.

http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2012/131/922/2012-131922622-0907a8cd-9O.pdf

[LeftyMom]

20. The teams pay taxes. Players pay taxes. There are taxes on seat sales and merchandise.

The league doesn't pay taxes because it's just the collective rule making and marketing body of the teams, and the teams pay taxes.