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THEY HAD $9.5 BILLION IN
REVENUES LAST YEAR
ROGER GOODELL MAKES
$44 MILLION A YEAR
INSTANT NFL PROFIT GUEST: Liz Peek, is a columnist for FoxNews.com and The Fiscal Times.
Football fans are unhappy with the cheating scandal that has roiled the Super Bowl. What should worry them more is this: NFL president Roger Goodell made $44 million last year, as head of a not-for-profit. You know – a not-for-profit like the Salvation Army or the March of Dimes. That’s right – even though the NFL teams raked in about $9.5 billion in revenues last year, and the CEO of their industry association takes home one of the highest paychecks in the land, the sports league pays no taxes. Not only is the NFL tax-exempt, so is an organization called the NFL Management Council that undertakes “labor negotiations on behalf of NFL Member Clubs.” That’s how screwed up our tax system is.
Half the diehard fans tuning in to Sunday’s Super Bowl think the New England Patriots cheated. That’s the news from a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling: 50% of NFL followers are convinced that Tom Brady’s team intentionally deflated those famous footballs. Affection for the Pats has plummeted, with a majority of fans now rooting for the Seahawks.
The NFL has dragged its collective cleats, just like in the Ray Rice scandal, taking its time to interview the participants in the Pat’s blow-out defeat of the Colts. As of today, officials had still failed to speak with rather pivotal figures such as, for example, QB Tom Brady, who was the obvious beneficiary of the “Deflategate” scandal.
As unhappy as football fans are with the cheating scandal – they should be even angrier with the management of the NFL. A recent article in GQ magazine reported Goodell’s out-sized compensation package at $44 million per year for seven years, which makes Goldman Sach’s Lloyd Blankfein’s $24 million take-home look downright measly by comparison. Goodell’s comp was determined by a three-owned committee including — guess who? — Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft. Kraft and Goodell are known to be close buddies, raising questions about conflicts of interests; some suggested an aggressive inquiry into the deflated balls was unlikely, given that relationship. Goodell reportedly visited Kraft’s home after the AFC Championship game with the Colts. Cozy.
READ: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2015/01/29/Forget-Deflategate-Here-s-Real-NFL-Scandal
BIO: Liz Peek spent over 20 years on Wall Street, most of them as a top-ranked research analyst. After managing her firm’s entrance into international research and foray into the market for U.S. equities in Japan, she became Wertheim & Company’s first female partner.
FOX COLUMNS: http://www.foxnews.com/archive/author/liz-peek/index.html
FT COLUMNS: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Authors/P/Liz-Peek
TWITTER: @lizpeek