Congratulations! You’ve Just Paid for the Super Bowl. Now Get Yourself to Disney World!

January 31, 2015

Every April 15th aren’t we always wondering where our money goes while writing our checks or electronically filing our Federal Income Tax?

New York Times Photo

Here’s what we know. According to the Center on Budget and Public Policy, in the 2013 fiscal year the federal government spent $3.5 trillion. From that $3.5 trillion, $2.8 trillion was financed by federal revenues (aka the tax payer).

Here’s the breakdown:

Social Security (24%); Defense and Internal Security (19%); Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP (22%); Safety Net Programs – aid to families in hardship other than health insurance and Social Security which include food stamps, housing assistance, child care assistance, utility assistance and various programs to serve abuse and neglected children (12%); Interest on the National Debt (6%).

The remaining areas are Benefits for federal retirees and veterans (8%); Transportation Infrastructure (3%); Education (1%); Science and Medical Research (2%); Non-Security International (1%); All Other (3%). Check it out on this super technical chart from the Center on Budget and Public Policy:

So now that you’re head is spinning, you probably want to know what this has to do with football. Well, it’s all about the “All Other 3%”.

Did you know that the National Football League (NFL) was a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization?

What the heck is a 501(c)(6) you say? It’s an organization that is granted tax-exempt status by the IRS provided that it is not created as a “for-profit business”. Earnings of the 501(c)(6) organization do not benefit a private shareholder or individual. Any earnings must be put back into the organization to further its cause. Kinda strange, don’t you think, since the goal of the owners within the NFL is to make profit? Sounds a lot like a “for-profit business” to me.

WHO is actually eligible for 510(c)(6) designation? Well, it allows this designation for many organizations, including business leagues, chambers of commerce, boards of trade, real estate boards and, believe it or not, specifically “professional football leagues”. Not sure if you remember Sesame Streets “Which of these things don’t belong with the other?” skit, but this one seems like it would be a no brainer. Sort of like this picture from cherryplucker.com:

Yikes. Yeah, that big hairy guy is the NFL.

So, did you ever wonder why the NFL was allowed to yank any game off broadcast television? They’re exempt from federal antitrust laws (dating back to the 60’s). They can pretty much do whatever they want.

Did you ever wonder why your cable or satellite provider can’t switch over to a live feed of an NFL game that was blacked out in a local market? Well, you can blame the Federal Communications Commission that has forbidden cable and satellite providers from doing so for almost 40 years.

Yup, the NFL has the government around their little finger and we pay for it. And it’s not just the federal government, we pay at a state and county level as well. Super Bowl XLIX will have an estimated coat of $455 million. The tax payers will have paid $308 million of that cost.

WHY? Well, the money that would be gained from all these exemptions = what we pay.

But rest assured New Yorkers, although every new stadium in the league was built with federal and state money, the New York Giants and Jets MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ was built without any public funding. The Jets and the Giants ROCK! At least off the football field.