In the Atlantic, Joe Pinsker speculates on one reason the NFL discarded its nonprofit status: Now the public has "one less thing to criticize" them for.
"On Tuesday, in an announcement that was mostly symbolic, the league said it'd be relinquishing its 501(c)(6) status. The change will have mild repercussions for the organization's finances, but really, it'll just get detractors to finally stop complaining about its nonprofit status. Tax exemptions exist to prop up organizations, like hospitals or symphonies, that the market might not sustain. The NFL, though, hardly needs such propping up: Its 32 teams brought in about $10 billion in 2013." -- Joe Pinsker, the Atlantic