Taxpayers have been very, very good to the National Football League. In 1998, for example, Marylanders wrote a $200 million check so the Ravens could build a state-of-the-art stadium with abundant luxury boxes and other amenities that help make the team fabulously profitable. As a result, the value of the franchise soared from $329 million to $864 million in just eight years, according to Forbes magazine.
Free stadiums are the norm throughout the league, but they?re just the tip of the subsidy iceberg. At the federal level, the easy deductibility of suite rentals and game tickets as a “business entertainment expense” props up demand, and favorable rules allowing depreciation of player contracts makes owning a sports franchise a wonderful tax dodge.
