NFL Will Give Up Nonprofit Status

The National Football League, which generates billions of dollars in revenue annually, will give up the tax-exempt status it has held since 1942, the Associated Press reports.

In a letter sent to NFL team owners, commissioner Roger Goodell called the league’s nonprofit status a “distraction” and said the league office and its management council would file returns as a taxable entity for fiscal year 2015. The organization is currently classified as a 501(c)(6) under the Internal Revenue Code.

“The change in filing status will make no material difference to our business,” Mr. Goodell wrote in the letter.

Mr. Goodell was paid $35-million in salary and bonuses in 2013, about 20 percent lower than his compensation in 2012, when he received a one-time, $9.1-million deferred payment. His salary will no longer be in the public record.

In late March, the House Oversight Committee said a review of the league’s tax-exempt status, as well as that of 10 other sports bodies, was under way. New House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz and other members of congress had been calling for the review.

In 2013 the league had $10 billion in revenue, much of which goes to the 32 teams, which already pay taxes on their income.