In September 2013, Coburn introduced the Properly Reducing Overexemptions for Sports Act (PRO Sports Act), which would remove nonprofit status from any sports organization with more than $10 million in annual revenue, including the NFL, NHL, PGA Tour and the U.S. Tennis Association. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) has signed on to the bill, and U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz has introduced a version in the U.S. House.
According to Coburn, his proposed changes in the tax code would result in more than $109 million in new tax revenue over the next decade. “I don’t think pro sports teams are trade associations,” Coburn said. “They are companies that are promoting their own brand, their own teams, and their own league, and not sports in general. We need the tax revenue, and to stop giving it away to people who don’t need it.”
Two other senators have also recently offered variations on the tax exemption revocation. In September, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) put forward a bill that would strip the NFL of its nonprofit status until the Washington Redskins changed their name; her bill has the support of Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). And following the Ray Rice scandal this autumn, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) proposed a bill that would use tax payments from the NFL’s league office to ramp up investment in domestic violence prevention.
Outside of Congress, two grassroots campaigns are advocating for the removal of the tax exemption. Lessig’s Rootstrikers, a nonprofit group that opposes the corrupting influence of money in politics, has started its own campaign in support of Coburn’s legislation, while a petition on Change.org had gathered more than 400,000 signatures as of press time.
NFL as lobbyist
The NFL has maintained its nonprofit status thanks, in part, to a sophisticated lobbying effort on both the local and national levels. According to Open Secrets, the NFL has spent nearly $3 million lobbying over the past three years, while a Sunlight Foundation report showed that NFL personnel — owners, players and staff — donated $1.5 million to candidates in the 2012 election.
As part of its effort to contain the PR crisis from the domestic abuse scandal, the league also recently hired Cynthia Hogan, a prominent Democratic operative and former counsel to Vice President Joe Biden. According to Politico, Hogan was the “key Senate aide” behind the initial passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994.
“The NFL is very active with lobbyists,” says Gregg Easterbrook, a journalist and author of the 2013 book The King of Sports: Football’s Impact on America. “In modern Washington, you don’t buy politicians off — you give them campaign donations, you invite the local congressman to sit in the owners’ box and get them announced at the games. [They want people to think], ‘Look at the senator, sitting next to the owner! Look how important they are!’”
Coburn acknowledges the vested interest of his colleagues. “How many different pro teams are there, and how many senators are from those states?” he asks. NFL teams are located in 22 states, so there are 44 senators with a powerful entity at home. That “makes it pretty hard to change something.”
Still, the NFL’s recent failures may push the league to finally act. Easterbrook says: “Given all the PR problems that the NFL has — we could spend all day listing them — I find it puzzling that they wouldn’t say, in order to prove that they are concerned about what the public thinks, ‘We’re asking Congress to revoke our nonprofit status.’ That would be great public relations.”
When asked whether the NFL was considering dropping its tax-exempt status, the NFL’s McCarthy declined to comment.
Coburn is hopeful that even if Congress won’t take the right steps, the league might. “This isn’t big money to the NFL,” he says. “I hear they are thinking about getting out of it like MLB. It certainly doesn’t smell good or look good when you pay the head of the nonprofit $44 million a year. These guys don’t need this.”
Patrick Doyle is a freelance writer and editor living in Pittsburgh. Reach him at patrickcdoyle.com.
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