Taxpayers Have Spent A 'Staggering' Amount Of Money On NFL Stadiums

When the NFL season kicks off Thursday night in New England, football fans will file into a stadium built with $72 million in taxpayer money. Compared to fans in other NFL cities, residents of Foxboro, Massachusetts, can thank their team for giving them a bargain.

Taxpayers have spent nearly $3 billion on the 16 stadiums that will host NFL games during the season's opening weekend, according to figures in a new analysis from the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, a Washington, D.C-based conservative nonprofit group.

Why Are We Paying the NFL to Help the Pentagon Recruit Troops?

All-star first baseman Carlos Delgado was not a fan of the numerous military appreciation events taking place at the ballpark a decade ago. These were staged to bolster support for the Iraq war and doubled as recruitment stations, using sports to increase the ranks of the armed forces, which had thinned dramatically after George W. Bush decided to call for a permanent era of armed conflict. As Delgado said, “I won’t stand for this war.… It’s a very terrible thing that happened on September 11. It’s [also] a terrible thing that happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. I just feel so sad for the families that lost relatives and loved ones in the war. But I think it’s the stupidest war ever.”

Does ESPN Have Room for Free Speech and ‘Monday Night Football’?

“Freedom of the press,” as A.J. Liebling famously wrote, “belongs to the man who owns one.”

Bill Simmons found that out on Sept. 24 when ESPN suspended him for three weeks for calling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a liar during his popular podcast, which was downloaded 32 million times last year.

But no, that can’t be true; surely the columnist knew the limits of his freedom well before his Goodell rant. Simmons, after all, has been suspended twice before by ESPN for controversial comments. Near the end of his spiel, you’ll hear Simmons say, “I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I’m in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell because if one person says that to me, I’m going public. You leave me alone. The commissioner is a liar, and I get to talk about that on my podcast.”

Chris Christie Defends NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is playing defense for embattled NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Christie said Thursday evening he strongly believes Goodell should stay in his job despite mounting criticism over his handling of a domestic violence incident involving former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice.

Christie hailed Goodell as an outstanding and honest man with great integrity. The two worked together during the lead-up to the Super Bowl.

He said Goodell had admitted he made a mistake in the way he handled the case but that he should be judged on the totality of his work.

Christie made the comments during an appearance on New Jersey 101.5 FM's "Ask the Governor" call-in show on Thursday evening.

Some female lawmakers in the state have called on Goodell to resign.

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.com/
Author: AP | By JILL COLVIN

Should the NFL Lose Its Tax-Exempt Status?

Times are good for the National Football League. Viewership is up. For the 47th year in a row, Harris Interactive named pro football the most popular sport in America. And with overall revenues north of $9 billion, the NFL is the most lucrative sports league on the planet.

That's not enough for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. He wants to nearly triple the league's revenues to $25 billion by 2027—a mind-bogglingly large number. But here's an even more shocking fact: The NFL pays nothing in taxes on all those revenues. Not a nickel. And now the anti-corruption organization Rootstrikers wants to put an end to the NFL's free ride.

Why not boycott the NFL?

Black Friday is, without a doubt, a fairly horrid phenomenon in the U.S. (now extended into Canada), wherein consumer culture, corporate greed and anti-labour practices collide. The holiday tradition of over-consumption, beginning on Black Friday and ending at Boxing Day Week in a mountain of things and post-holiday depression, led Adbusters to attach itself to the promotion of "Buy Nothing Day," which takes place the day after American Thanksgiving.

There are a number of smart critiques of Buy Nothing Day (and, more generally, Adbusters' focus on consumption and it's branding of non-consumption) and, while I appreciate the efforts of individuals to avoid participating in the buying frenzy that surrounds the holidays, I find some of these boycotts and actions to be overly simplistic as well as conveniently lacking in gender (and, in fact, class) analysis.

How the NFL Fleeces Taxpayers

Last year was a busy one for public giveaways to the National Football League. In Virginia, Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, who styles himself as a budget-slashing conservative crusader, took $4 million from taxpayers’ pockets and handed the money to the Washington Redskins, for the team to upgrade a workout facility. Hoping to avoid scrutiny, McDonnell approved the gift while the state legislature was out of session. The Redskins’ owner, Dan Snyder, has a net worth estimated by Forbes at $1 billion. But even billionaires like to receive expensive gifts.