Reading Notes: How the NFL Fleeces Taxpayers

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/309448/
http://www.beyondchron.org/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/

"extremely profitable and one of the most subsidized organizations in American history, the NFL also enjoys tax-exempt status.

The phrase or professional football leagues was added to Section 501(c)6 of 26 U.S.C., the Internal Revenue Code. Previously, a sentence in Section 501(c)6 had granted not-for-profit status to “business leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, or boards of trade.” Since 1966, the code has read: “business leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, boards of trade, or professional football leagues.”

The insertion of professional football leagues into the definition of not-for-profit organizations was a transparent sellout of public interest. This decision has saved the NFL uncounted millions in tax obligations, which means that ordinary people must pay higher taxes, public spending must decline, or the national debt must increase to make up for the shortfall. Nonprofit status applies to the NFL’s headquarters, which administers the league and its all-important television contracts.
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How is the NFL a non-profit organization??? It's so blatantly not, and they had to add it into the list specifically. But what are those other things anyways... how are any of those leagues, chambers, and boards non-profit either?

"In the NFL, cynicism about public money starts at the top. State laws and IRS rules generally forbid the use of nonprofit status as a subterfuge for personal enrichment. Yet according to the league’s annual Form 990, in 2011, the most recent year for which numbers are available, the NFL paid a total of almost $60 million to its leading five executives."

It's non-profit for the people supplying the money, that's for sure. The NFL teams take money from government funds to build a stadium, then the same taxpayers who gave their money to build the stadium have to pay to get in. Pay for jerseys. Pay for the cable TV, the internet streams. Pay for the Universities who supply the NFL with athlete recruits.

" A year after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the Saints resumed hosting NFL games: justifiably, a national feel-good story. The finances were another matter. Taxpayers have, in stages, provided about $1 billion to build and later renovate what is now known as the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

And corporate welfare for the Saints doesn’t stop at stadium construction and renovation costs. Though Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal claims to be an anti-spending conservative, each year the state of Louisiana forcibly extracts up to $6 million from its residents’ pockets and gives the cash to Benson as an “inducement payment”—the actual term used—to keep Benson from developing a wandering eye."

Corporate welfare is right! These conservatives hate socialism, not because they don't believe in handouts - but because it is too universal. They love handouts at the expense of the working class, and want it only for themselves...

"In California, the City of Santa Clara broke ground on a $1.3 billion stadium for the 49ers. Officially, the deal includes $116 million in public funding, with private capital making up the rest. At least, that’s the way the deal was announced. A new government entity, the Santa Clara Stadium Authority, is borrowing $950 million, largely from a consortium led by Goldman Sachs, to provide the majority of the “private” financing. Who are the board members of the Santa Clara Stadium Authority? The members of the Santa Clara City Council. In effect, the city of Santa Clara is providing most of the “private” funding. Should something go wrong, taxpayers will likely take the hit.

The 49ers will pay Santa Clara $24.5 million annually in rent for four decades, which makes the deal, from the team’s standpoint, a 40-year loan amortized at less than 1 percent interest. At the time of the agreement, 30-year Treasury bonds were selling for 3 percent, meaning the Santa Clara contract values the NFL as a better risk than the United States government."

To the people who think that by paying for the stadium the city is getting a good deal in the long run from property rent look at this. The football franchise pays the money back after FORTY YEARS at ONE PERCENT INTEREST.

LOL. Go ask your bank for that kind of loan on A BILLION DOLLARS. WAT. And after forty years the team's going to need another new stadium, again paid by for the working class, so that billion dollar investment will NEVER turn a profit for the city in rent.

"Taxpayers in Hamilton County, Ohio, which includes Cincinnati, were hit with a bill for $26 million in debt service for the stadiums where the NFL’s Bengals and Major League Baseball’s Reds play, plus another $7 million to cover the direct operating costs for the Bengals’ field.

Press materials distributed by the Bengals declare that the team gives back about $1 million annually to Ohio community groups. Sound generous? That’s about 4 percent of the public subsidy the Bengals receive annually from Ohio taxpayers.

Pro-sports subsidies exceeded the $23.6 million that the county cut from health-and-human-services spending in the current two-year budget (and represent a sizable chunk of the $119 million cut from Hamilton County schools)."

So the working people paid the Bengals owner $33 million, and he gave $1 million of it to community and charity ... they say donated, but they show those "NFL cares" on national TV, so it was basically used as cheap advertising. Plus that money was taken away from the health and education budget, which was going toward helping people anyway. But without calling themselves a 'charity'.

In fact, I hate the term charity. It reflects a belief that everyone does things for themselves, and to do something for others for free would be gracing them by your generosity. Public schools, a charity. Fire fighters, charity. Sewage and sanitation, charity. Public roads, charity. Libraries, police, drinking water, parks ...

Why are we giving these things away, to people who don't even pay for them? We ought to privatize everything, so only the rich have access to basic needs. Then the lazy bums looking for a handout will turn out right. When they aren't allowed to walk down a street or walk into a restroom.

In a community that cares for its people, you don't have charity. You don't call it that, or think like that... you just look out for one another. It's not something extra that you do to be generous. You do it because the group becomes stronger when its members have support.

You do it so your community is productive. So you live around people who are happy and healthy, and don't need to bar your windows and aren't afraid to walk the streets at night. But not just because you care about yourself. You are happy to see others share your success.

"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."

And that donation is likely going to pay ten people, each a salary of $40,000 to operate the military group. And the remaining $40,000 they might use to aid the some hundred or so veterans who have filled out forms and been screened and accepted for 'help'.

Disgusting. I'd be happier to see NFL owners just keep all the money. Instead of profiteering on people's admiration for military servicemen and women. Perverting something people think is noble into a sham.