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Who really believes this -- "The NFL opts to end its tax-exempt status "

cpollock

cpollock

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Something tells me that they were TOLD to do this !!


The NFL opts to end its tax-exempt status


The National Football League’s central office will become a taxable entity, ending its tax-exempt status.

Commissioner Roger Goodell informed team owners and members of Congress of the decision in letters dated Tuesday, saying he was eliminating a “distraction.”

“Every dollar of income generated through television rights fees, licensing agreements, sponsorships, ticket sales, and other means is earned by the 32 clubs and is taxable there,” Goodell wrote. “This will remain the case even when the league office and Management Council file returns as taxable entities, and the change in filing status will make no material difference to our business.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/the-nfl-opts-to-end-its-tax-exempt-status/ar-BBiMCd7
 
More proof of Goodell's weakness. A distraction? Waaahh, people are saying mean things on twitter. I better placate them with whatever they want, This guy is a joke.
 
Somehow, I am sure this means more $$$$ in their pockets.
 
I would never fault any individual or corporation from using any legal means to benefit their net-tax position. That is why they give you forms to fill in.

For sure they are doing it because it benefits them most to take this action.
 
It means the league never has to disclose how much the Fuhrer is making and try to explain off his $25 million salary.
 
deljzc said:
It means the league never has to disclose how much the Fuhrer is making and try to explain off his $25 million salary.
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you mean his 44 million salary ..
 
From what I've read, the NFL consists of several subsidiaries that make up most of their revenue and they have never been tax exempt. For example, the TV contracts and merchandise sales report revenue to subsidiaries of the NFL so they've always paid taxes on that. My understanding is that the NFL has only ever been tax exempt on what is used to pay executives' salaries like Goodell's which are taxed anyway on their personal returns. In recent years, the tax exempt portions of the revenue have actually reported losses so it didn't even benefit the league in those years. Last year it was something like $9 million that was tax exempt out of the nearly $10 billion in total revenue.

So in short, this is a non-story. It changes nothing for the NFL but might benefit other leagues whose status was threatened by the mounting pressure on the NFL
 
The NFL rode it out as long as they could. There definately was an advantage to being "tax exempt" or there wouldn't have been anything there. NOW, they realize the end is near and it would be cheaper, to eliminate, than to fight. Didn't the pensyvania senator try addressing this, not to long ago.....?



Salute the nation
 
Depending on how they do things, a lot of things will be public when they file their taxes now. They will have to show their revenue and the salaries they pay to prove income, etc. Not sure if this will be more or less info than they currently have to make public. The next question will be is if they stay a private organization. If they have plans to really bring in cash, they can become a publicly traded company. I doubt the owners would want to give up that kind of power but you never know when money in their pockets is involved.
 
Just look for new accounting methods to always show a loss from now on, there will be no taxes collected, and there maybe fees hit to each team so they can make another deduction or two as well. All salaries and other expenses have likely just gone up so as to prevent any taxation of the entity and the only taxes will be wages that were taxed before.
 
TDX27 said:
Depending on how they do things, a lot of things will be public when they file their taxes now. They will have to show their revenue and the salaries they pay to prove income, etc. Not sure if this will be more or less info than they currently have to make public. The next question will be is if they stay a private organization. If they have plans to really bring in cash, they can become a publicly traded company. I doubt the owners would want to give up that kind of power but you never know when money in their pockets is involved.
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You may be on to something here. When you watch the NFL, they have clearly done everything towards monetizing all of their assets. In many ways, the NFL brand is the dream that many, many companies would seek to emulate around their products -- and the market provides both a valuation and liquidity tool. The NFL would be an investment bankers wet dream. Who wouldn't want to buy their football-crazy spouse 100 shares with a piece of paper that shows this NFL product along with a team logo? Frame that and stick it in the man cave. Marketing dream.

If the NFL has annual revenues at $10Billion, then they could easily sell shares at a valuation of 2X or $20 Billion and simply sell 10% of NFL to the public for $2 Billion in CASH. The league holds onto $400 million in cash, while each ownership group hauls in $50 million. No effective loss of control, NFL gets greater media access (quarterly earnings, great comparisons to all other pro leagues, all news migrates to financial channels too, etc.).

Hell, they could literally give 5% to all former players to take care of injury problems and let them finance it. Poof, end of liability! Thru "sharing"!

Publicly traded shares also helps bring the public view into line with what is best for the company: who the hell really cares that Apple employs slave labor living in slum conditions in China when they can see the Kardashians last Twitter post on their giant new iphone 6? While drinking high-fructose laced Coke and munching on tortilla chips cheaply made because of a round-up ready crop?

******* Goodell will be a hero.
 
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The teams are the ones that make the money (not the NFL) and they do pay taxes. Being tax exempt saved the NFL something like $10 million a year but it was a PR nightmare. Now they don't have to disclose Goodell's salary and they are not such an easy punching bag for congress.
 
10mil? Just sell a couple more Super Bowl commercials. Done.
 
The way I read it, this will eliminate much of the leverage the govt has had against them. In the past the NFL occasionally had to play ball with the govt under the threat of losing their tax exempt status. Maybe they figure it's worth it if it means they can tell the govt to **** off.
 
TDX27 said:
Somehow, I am sure this means more $$$$ in their pockets.
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you know they wouldn't do it unless they were going to get something in return to their advantage
 
Ron Burgundy said:
The way I read it, this will eliminate much of the leverage the govt has had against them. In the past the NFL occasionally had to play ball with the govt under the threat of losing their tax exempt status. Maybe they figure it's worth it if it means they can tell the govt to **** off.
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I believe they still have the anit-trust exemption, which still gives the government some control on making sure the games are viewable to the american public.
 
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