# How the NFL Fleeces Taxpayers **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics and Social Issues\ **Created:** [November 4, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172 "2013-11-04T15:13:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f8ce5/32.png) [@lois](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lois)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/1 "2013-11-04T15:13:55Z")
Not a religion topic but important. We should all know how our tax dollars are being spent while cuts are made to such frippery as social programs, which Republicans will tell you are ruining the economy. Fooball subsidies don’t have that effect, according to the sports lobby. This is a long article best read at the site. How the NFL Fleeces Taxpayers By Gregg Easterbrook Taxpayers fund the stadiums, antitrust law doesn’t apply to broadcast deals, the league enjoys nonprofit status, and Commissioner Roger Goodell makes $30 million a year. It’s time to stop the public giveaways to America’s richest sports league and to the feudal lords who own its teams. Last year was a busy one for public giveaways to the National Football League. In Virginia, Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, who styles himself as a budget-slashing conservative crusader, took $4 million from taxpayers pockets and handed the money to the Washington Redskins, for the team to upgrade a workout facility. Hoping to avoid scrutiny, McDonnell approved the gift while the state legislature was out of session. The Redskins owner, Dan Snyder, has a net worth estimated by Forbes at $1 billion. But even billionaires like to receive expensive gifts. > **[How the NFL Fleeces Taxpayers](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/309448/)** > > Taxpayers fund the stadiums, antitrust law doesn't apply to broadcast deals, the league enjoys nonprofit status, and Commissioner Roger Goodell makes $30 million a year. It's time to stop the public giveaways to America's richest sports league—and to... ---
**Author:** ![garythehuman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a9a28c/32.png) [@garythehuman](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/garythehuman)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/2 "2013-11-04T16:20:37Z")
Pro Baseball and Basketball should be included also - great examples of “private enterprise” financed by our tax dollars. Don’t feed the lazy poor only the wealthy that are providing today’s games in our publicly financed coliseums . ---
**Author:** ![bigandrewm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigandrewm](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/bigandrewm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/3 "2013-11-04T17:26:26Z")
Methinks that Gregg Easterbrook needs to go research what feudal lords actually are. ---
**Author:** ![lois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f8ce5/32.png) [@lois](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lois)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/4 "2013-11-04T19:38:27Z")
> Methinks that Gregg Easterbrook needs to go research what feudal lords actually are. It's close enough, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![bigandrewm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigandrewm](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/bigandrewm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/5 "2013-11-04T19:53:11Z")
Feudal lords were absolute dictators over their small slices of land and were constantly at war with their neighbors because expansion of land control was the only means available in medieval Europe for them to increase wealth. Remember your history: serfdom, Middle Ages, legalized torture, slavery, uncontrolled disease, genocides - Feudal lords were masters of all of these things. Saying that the NFL is run in a Feudal system is too much of a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![vyazma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d9b06d/32.png) [@vyazma](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/vyazma)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/6 "2013-11-05T00:45:56Z")
It’s a joke. Tax payers foot the bill for a new $100 Million dollar stadium. Then they have to pay admission to get in the place. Professional and College sports are a perfect reflection of how dysfunctional the US is. Opiates for the masses! I know in Buffalo there’s always scuttlebutt about how the Team is going to move away. The owner can’t afford a new stadium, but there’s always some other market down the road that is willing to buy him a brand new Superdome. That’s how they run game on the public. “Oh the taxes are going for a good cause. It’s community development. It’s civic responsibility!” Or…“It’s a job creator”. Yeah selling hot dogs or waving a flag once a week for 15 weeks in a parking lot is a job! Meanwhile a Quarterback is making 20 Million a year. The owner is a Billionaire and down the road from the stadium people are picking through trash to eat. Opiates for the masses. ---
**Author:** ![darrons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@darrons](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/darrons)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/7 "2013-11-05T04:44:09Z")
> It's a joke. Tax payers foot the bill for a new $100 Million dollar stadium. You're about 25 years behind the times on stadium costs. $100 million dollars might buy a scoreboard these days. ---
**Author:** ![lois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f8ce5/32.png) [@lois](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lois)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/8 "2013-11-05T05:22:57Z")
“Bread and circuses” . . . is a metaphor for a superficial means of appeasement. In the case of politics, the phrase is used to describe the creation of public approval, not through exemplary or excellent public service or public policy, but through diversion; distraction; or the mere satisfaction of the immediate, shallow requirements of a populace, as an offered “palliative.” Juvenal decried it as a simplistic motivation of common people. The phrase also implies the erosion or ignorance of civic duty amongst the concerns of the common man. In modern usage, the phrase is taken to describe a populace that no longer values civic virtues and the public life. To many, it connotes a supposed triviality and frivolity that characterized the Roman Republic prior to its decline into the autocratic monarchy characteristic of the later Roman Empire’s transformation about 44 B.C. Wikipedia That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9 ---
**Author:** ![vyazma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d9b06d/32.png) [@vyazma](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/vyazma)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/9 "2013-11-05T12:34:00Z")
> It's a joke. Tax payers foot the bill for a new $100 Million dollar stadium. You're about 25 years behind the times on stadium costs. $100 million dollars might buy a scoreboard these days. That's so funny Darron, because I originally typed 200M but thought that was too much. ---
**Author:** ![vyazma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d9b06d/32.png) [@vyazma](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/vyazma)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/10 "2013-11-05T12:44:18Z")
> "Bread and circuses" . . . is a metaphor for a superficial means of appeasement. In the case of politics, the phrase is used to describe the creation of public approval, not through exemplary or excellent public service or public policy, but through diversion; distraction; or the mere satisfaction of the immediate, shallow requirements of a populace, as an offered "palliative." Juvenal decried it as a simplistic motivation of common people. The phrase also implies the erosion or ignorance of civic duty amongst the concerns of the common man. In modern usage, the phrase is taken to describe a populace that no longer values civic virtues and the public life. To many, it connotes a supposed triviality and frivolity that characterized the Roman Republic prior to its decline into the autocratic monarchy characteristic of the later Roman Empire's transformation about 44 B.C. Wikipedia That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9 First off....Lois? Lois quoting the bible? :bug: Bread and Circuses. Yup. Delaware North is a large company that is based in Buffalo. They provide large scale services to huge venues like many of the Major League sports arenas. Food and Drinks. They want to relocate their headquarters a couple blocks down the street. Build a brand new building. They also want Tax Breaks to do it. Yet they have no problem charging 6 dollars for a hot dog or 12 dollars for a beer. So there's the bread part. The games are the Circus. ---
**Author:** ![darrons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@darrons](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/darrons)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/11 "2013-11-05T17:57:25Z")
> It's a joke. Tax payers foot the bill for a new $100 Million dollar stadium. You're about 25 years behind the times on stadium costs. $100 million dollars might buy a scoreboard these days. That's so funny Darron, because I originally typed 200M but thought that was too much. I'm not interested enough to look it up, but the cheapest stadium proposal I remember hearing recently is $600 million for a new home for the Minnesota Vikings. The Dallas Cowboys spent more than $1 billion on their monstrosity of a stadium. Don't know how much public financing the Cowboys received, but they probably at least got some generous tax breaks. The Vikings' owners threatened to move the team if Minneapolis didn't pay at least half the cost of the stadium. Cities typically pay off these bonds through hotel/motel taxes, which means everyone who stays in a city with an NFL team helps pay for the shiny new stadiums. ---
**Author:** ![cuthbertj](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/cuthbertj/32/18_2.png) [@cuthbertj](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/cuthbertj)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/12 "2013-11-05T18:40:29Z")
> "Bread and circuses" . . . is a metaphor for a superficial means of appeasement. In the case of politics, the phrase is used to describe the creation of public approval, not through exemplary or excellent public service or public policy, but through diversion; distraction; or the mere satisfaction of the immediate, shallow requirements of a populace, as an offered "palliative." Juvenal decried it as a simplistic motivation of common people. The phrase also implies the erosion or ignorance of civic duty amongst the concerns of the common man. In modern usage, the phrase is taken to describe a populace that no longer values civic virtues and the public life. To many, it connotes a supposed triviality and frivolity that characterized the Roman Republic prior to its decline into the autocratic monarchy characteristic of the later Roman Empire's transformation about 44 B.C. Wikipedia That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9 Thanks for posting that. It is SO utterly true, and summed up for myself why I don't watch professional sports. It's all about money, the players themselves have zero allegiance to their cities, and I think rarely even live in them, AND the whole thing smacks of Bread and Circuses, including when at work everyone is encouraged to wear the local team's jerseys. Pitiful. ---
**Author:** ![vyazma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d9b06d/32.png) [@vyazma](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/vyazma)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/13 "2013-11-05T18:45:36Z")
> I'm not interested enough to look it up, but the cheapest stadium proposal I remember hearing recently is $600 million for a new home for the Minnesota Vikings. The Dallas Cowboys spent more than $1 billion on their monstrosity of a stadium. Don't know how much public financing the Cowboys received, but they probably at least got some generous tax breaks. The Vikings' owners threatened to move the team if Minneapolis didn't pay at least half the cost of the stadium. Cities typically pay off these bonds through hotel/motel taxes, which means everyone who stays in a city with an NFL team helps pay for the shiny new stadiums. Yes the hotel taxes and the Sin Taxes. Sin taxes being extra levies on cigarettes and alcohol. I have heard the old "threaten to leave town" routine for years. Reminds me of some graffiti I saw in a bar restroom once- **Go Sabres!**.......and take the Bills with you!! _Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash New car, caviar, four star daydream, Think I'll buy me a football team_ -excerpt from Pink Floyd's -"Money" ---
**Author:** ![lois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f8ce5/32.png) [@lois](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lois)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/3172/14 "2013-11-06T03:08:47Z")
> I'm not interested enough to look it up, but the cheapest stadium proposal I remember hearing recently is $600 million for a new home for the Minnesota Vikings. The Dallas Cowboys spent more than $1 billion on their monstrosity of a stadium. Don't know how much public financing the Cowboys received, but they probably at least got some generous tax breaks. The Vikings' owners threatened to move the team if Minneapolis didn't pay at least half the cost of the stadium. Cities typically pay off these bonds through hotel/motel taxes, which means everyone who stays in a city with an NFL team helps pay for the shiny new stadiums. Yes the hotel taxes and the Sin Taxes. Sin taxes being extra levies on cigarettes and alcohol. I have heard the old "threaten to leave town" routine for years. Reminds me of some graffiti I saw in a bar restroom once- **Go Sabres!**.......and take the Bills with you!! _Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash New car, caviar, four star daydream, Think I'll buy me a football team_ -excerpt from Pink Floyd's -"Money" I can only wonder how much money goes to new public libraries or schools or kids' sports in those cities.