Guest Post by Michelle Malkin
I’m calling foul on all the leftists rushing to protect the NFL’s protest crusaders from President Donald Trump’s criticism of their national anthem antics.
Their shabby line of defense? The NFL is a “private enterprise” whose “rights” are being violated by those who dare to challenge the league’s political radicalization. The anti-Trump Democratic Coalition has even filed an ethics complaint alleging that the president’s comments constitute a criminal violation against using government offices “to influence the employment decisions and practices” of a private entity.
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Funny. These fair-weather friends of corporate free speech and the First Amendment were nowhere to be found when Boston Mayor Tom Menino and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel were vowing to shut down Chick-Fil-A in their towns as government retaliation against the founders’ private religious beliefs.
As for the NFL’s status as a “private” enterprise? That’s some Super Bowl-sized audacity right there. I first started tracking publicly subsidized sports boondoggles with my very first watchdog website, Porkwatch, back in 1999. Since then, taxpayers at all levels of government have foot the bill for football stadiums to the tune of an estimated $1 billion every year.
Over the past decade, new tax-supported NFL stadiums rose up for the Indianapolis Colts (the $720 million Lucas Oil Stadium), the Dallas Cowboys (the $1.15 billion AT&T Stadium) the New York Jets and Giants (the $1.6 billion MetLife Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings (the $1.1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium), the Atlanta Falcons (the $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium), and the San Francisco 49ers (the $1.3 billion Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara).
Sports economists have concluded repeatedly that the effects of stadium subsidies on employment and economic activity are negligible — or even negative. Scott Wolla of the St. Louis Federal Reserve reported earlier this year, “In a 2017 poll, 83 percent of the economists surveyed agreed that ‘Providing state and local subsidies to build stadiums for professional sports teams is likely to cost the relevant taxpayers more than any local economic benefits that are generated.'”
Yet, the NFL, its teams and its sponsors continue to benefit from a bonanza of tax-free loans, municipal bonds, rent waivers and property tax exemptions. Congress provided the league with an antitrust exemption that protects its monopoly broadcasting rights. Localities have raided “emergency” funds to help pay for stadium construction. And corporate benefactors write off their expenses for luxury boxes, tickets and naming-rights purchases.
As long as the NFL has its hog noses buried in the taxpayer trough, I’ll keep speaking up about all the football militants who backed former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick and his disgusting cops-as-pigs socks.
You wanna raise your fists on the field? Get your grubby hands out of our pockets first.
Always liked this Michelle – she doesn’t waste words.
Excellent piece Michelle!
Love the name of your old website too. Porkwatch!
Mr Trump has already got Congress working on killing the Federal subsidies and some of the states are on it too. Throw in the locals and we should see some shrinking owner wallets especially if the boycotting increases. The fans will likely discover that $150 plus dollars can buy a lot more practical things than a ticket to watch rich ignorant cretins beat each others brains out.
And then there is the trickle down factor when the players feel the heat. All this over a false premise.
This is the story of the suicide of the NFL – Wayne Allyn Root via Townhall
Every liberal CEO in America should be watching and listening. This is a case study for how to destroy a billion-dollar business by injecting your offensive leftist politics and alienating your own customer base.
President Trump has done it again. No, I don’t mean he’s offended millions of Americans. I mean he said exactly what was on the mind of tens of millions of middle class Americans. Call us the Silent Majority. Because of Trump, our views now count.
Don’t look now but Trump just kicked the NFL’s rear end. Ratings are plummeting. Revenues are plunging. The player’s spokesman deals are being cancelled. Fans are booing. Fans are burning tickets and uniforms. Lifelong NFL zealots are vowing to never watch another game. And the #1 selling jersey in the USA is a Pittsburg Steeler backup- a former Army Ranger with the courage to stand for the national anthem.
The Silent Majority is speaking loudly and clearly.
https://townhall.com/columnists/wayneallynroot/2017/09/27/the-suicide-of-the-nfl-n2387019
The owners own the teams. If they can extort, cajole, connive and convince states & municipalities to subsidize those teams – well – the states are stupid, then. Stupid government subsidies don’t change the fact that the owners own the teams. The owners can decide to ban on-the-job political protestations by their employees, but if they’re too chickenshit to do that – as appears to be the case – then they can allow the kneeling and the fist-raising. The president can make whatever comments and helpful suggestions he wants, and consumers can decide whose side they’re on and whether they want to patronize NFL events and products. I give the whole thing one big giant “whatever”. If I doubled my NFL spending or halved it, it’d be the same: $0.00. I’m just surprised some TV network doesn’t run women’s beach volleyball during NFL games. That way, if you catch some dude watching football, you could say “what are you – a fag?”.
Lol. +1
That was a good response, Iska. Thumbs up.
Tax the NFL.
I sent an e mail to my senator asking to rescind the non profit status for the NFL. That means they would start paying taxes!
That was a damn good article.