Big-time sports tax breaks: 'How much does it bother you?'

The WRAL Investigates team looked at the nonprofit exemptions, which were built into the tax code long before big TV money deals.

“It's not a profit center in itself. It's simply a facilitator, a kind of distributing unit,” said Duke University tax law professor Rich Schmalbeck, who points out that the real profit flows to NFL teams, which eventually pay some tax on the big TV, gate and merchandizing money.

The league office revenue comes mainly from team assessments. The $183 million averages out to about $6 million per team. Those dues that teams such as the Carolina Panthers pay can then be written off because the NFL is technically a nonprofit. The league paid Commissioner Roger Goodell $11,554,000, according to 2011 tax forms.

Counter that tax break with a proposal in Charlotte to increase the meals tax to pay for $125 million in Bank Of America Stadium renovations.

“How much does it bother you that the rich – in this case the NFL, the extremely rich – are getting benefits that I, as a small business owner, don't get?” said David Glenn, a sports radio host and attorney.

Glenn says he believes that’s a fair question, especially since the NFL won its exempt status in the 1960s, long before the mammoth TV deals.

“It is an example where the powerful get advantages, but it's one of a million examples where that is the case,” Glenn added.

“College sports, I think, are very problematic when it comes to charitable organizations,” Schmalbeck said.

Just like the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the SPCA, the NCAA and college athletic conferences enjoy what is called 501(c)(3) tax status, no corporate income or property taxes and contributions are deductible.

The Atlantic Coast Conference's mission statement defends its nonprofit status: The league "exists to promote and regulate inter-collegiate athletic programs" and to "maximize the educational and athletic opportunities of its student-athletes."

“If you think that that is not part of the core educational enterprise, then the tax treatment is probably one of many complaints you have about the system.” Schmalbeck said.

After salaries and operating expenses at the ACC, the vast majority of revenue flows directly to the member schools tax free, and there's another benefit. The ACC pays no property tax to local government for its $2.6 million headquarters in Greensboro. ACC Commissioner John Swofford was paid $1,460,768 in base compensation last year.

“If they ever lose the educational exception, if they ever also lose the amateur athletics exception, they can always apply for a religious exception, because we all know in the state of North Carolina college basketball is frequently treated like a religion,” Glenn joked.

Nonprofit or not, changing the tax game for big-time sports won't come easy.

“Every time college sports and the IRS go to war, the IRS ends up licking its wounds,” Schmalbeck said.

“If you're bringing in so much money from so many people, I think you should be taxed at some point,” said sports fan Mike Litton.

It would take serious political will for lawmakers to take on the tax status of the NFL and college sports, and there's no sign anything will change anytime soon.

The ACC and NFL referred WRAL Investigates to IRS tax codes and mission statements but declined requests to comment.

Tuesday on WRAL News at 6 p.m., WRAL Investigates looks at another nonprofit – private country clubs.