In exchange for diverting the attention of the masses from our ruling elites' horrendous misdeeds, the obscenely opulent owners of NFL teams receive generous helpings of *corporate welfare, an exemption from anti-trust laws, and the freedom to extort the public.
It Taxes the Imagination
It may seem unbelievable, but the Daniel Snyder's of this world are entitled to tax benefits for a portion of the salaries they pay to players. US tax laws actually enable NFL owners to depreciate their employees, thus classifying football players as business capital rather than human beings.
When an owner sells their team, their profits are taxed as capital gains. Hence these bloated plutocrats pay a lesser tax rate than we do on our wages or salaries.
And remember those exorbitant skybox seats that average Joes can only afford in their dreams? Since 50% of the money businesses spend on NFL outings is tax deductible, corporate elites luxuriate from "on high" for half price(3).
What Happened to Welfare Reform?
In the late 20th Century, the public spent $20 billion to subsidize the construction of new sports stadiums. [Who knows how much higher that figure would be were we to include the many interest free loans and tax free bonds lavished upon professional sports team owners](4)?
Logically, one wonders what the working people got in return for such "investments".
Here is what the Cato Institute concluded:
• "The professional sports environment in the 37 metropolitan areas in our sample had no measurable impact on the growth rate of real per capita income in those areas.
• "The professional sports environment has a statistically significant impact on the level of real per capita income in our sample of metropolitan areas, and the overall impact is negative.
"For example, the arrival of a new basketball franchise in a metropolitan area increases real per capita income by about $67. But building a new arena for that basketball team reduces real per capita income by almost $73 in each of the 10 years following the construction of the new arena, leading to a net loss of about $6 per person."
Want more evidence of the fatuous groupthink plaguing the United States? Take note of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. He owns the Seattle Seahawks and is on the public dole with the rest of the NFL "billionaires' club". In 2000 Allen demanded that the state of Washington pony up 75% of the $425 million "necessary" to build a new stadium for his team. His net worth at that time? $40 billion. Despite his nearly unlimited financial means, the state feared Allen's threats to move the Seahawks and met his demand(5).
Who Has Boardwalk and Park Place?
Operating as a "legal" monopoly enables NFL owners to manipulate their market and keep the demand for professional football teams artificially higher than the supply. Refusing to accommodate cities that desire (and are capable of sustaining) pro football organizations allows the monopolists to inflate the values of their teams. For example, from 1997 to 1998 the average value of a professional sports team rose from $146 million to $196 million.
The NFL cartel further empowers these moneyed elites to successfully insist upon insane television revenues. Who picks up the tab? The cost is ultimately recouped from the fans in the form of increased cable TV rates and higher prices (to offset retailers' higher advertising costs during NFL games).
"What could better reflect the collective psychosis of the American Empire than our mass obsession with the NFL? Born through violent revolution, expanded by genocide, enriched by slavery, and elevated to hegemony through imperialism, militarism, and economic tyranny, the United States, like NFL football, embodies avaricious savagery masked by a fastidiously maintained illusion of benevolent civility."
I'm committing this to memory.
by
Mar (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 155 comments)
on Saturday, January 13, 2007 at 4:33:20 PM
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