The National Football League will soon become taxable, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Tuesday in a series of letters to team owners and members of Congress.
Bloomberg reported that he’s made the change to remove a “distraction.”
The articled continued:
“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.”
The change to the NFL’s status comes as the league has received pressure in recent years from U.S. lawmakers over why it has remained tax exempt. Bloomberg added:
The move will make the league more opaque, because it will no longer need to disclose Goodell’s salary and other financial information. The U.S. requires that nonprofits file annual tax returns and make portions of them public.
The NFL earned $10 billion in revenue in 2013. Gooddell became commissioner in 2006 when the league enjoyed $7 billion in revenue. The NFL has been tax exempt since 1966, according to an NBC article. But while it’s a tax-exempt organization, the individual teams are “taxable, for-profit businesses, which means the money made by the league is taxed. This move will not affect the tax burden faced by the teams,” the article said.
