Is the NFL a Nonprofit? Current Federal Status

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The NFL is not currently a tax-exempt nonprofit

The NFL’s central league office voluntarily relinquished its federal tax-exempt status in 2015. A current description of the NFL as a Section 501(c)(6) nonprofit therefore confuses its former classification with its present federal tax treatment.

The change was voluntary rather than an IRS revocation. A 2023 Senate Finance Committee account confirms that the NFL gave up its Section 501(c)(6) exemption in 2015 and switched to a for-profit structure.

The practical result is that the league office files as a taxable entity instead of filing Form 990 as an exempt business league. Taxable status does not mean every receipt is taxed without deductions; ordinary federal income-tax rules apply to income, expenses, and taxable profit.

The former exemption applied to the league office, not every team

Before 2015, the tax-exempt organization was the central league office that coordinated shared league functions. The clubs and commercial operations were legally distinct, so the league office’s exemption did not turn team profits into exempt income.

This distinction explains why calling the entire professional football business “tax free” was misleading even during the exempt years. The federal question concerned the status of a coordinating membership organization, not whether ticket sales, local sponsorships, and other club operations escaped tax across the league.

Changing the league office’s status also did not convert every club into the same legal entity. Each organization remains responsible for the federal rules that apply to its own structure and activities.

Section 501(c)(6) is for qualifying business leagues

Section 501(c)(6) covers qualifying business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, boards of trade, and professional football leagues. The current statutory text requires the organization not to be organized for profit and prohibits net earnings from inuring to a private shareholder or individual.

Treasury regulations add that a business league must promote a common business interest rather than conduct a regular business ordinarily carried on for profit. Its activities should improve business conditions for a line of business instead of performing particular services for individual members.

Tax exemption under Section 501(c)(6) does not transform an organization into a charity. IRS Publication 557 indicates that contributions to a business league are generally not deductible as charitable contributions, although a business may have a separate expense analysis for qualifying dues.

Readers comparing classifications can review the broader guide to organizations described in Section 501(c). The paragraph number matters because each category has different purposes, restrictions, filing rules, and contribution consequences.

The 1966 law expressly mentioned professional football leagues

Congress added professional football leagues to the text of Section 501(c)(6) in 1966. The historical amendment was connected to the merger of the National and American Football Leagues and expressly covered a league whether or not it administered a players’ pension fund.

The express wording helped resolve concerns about the league office’s qualification as a business league. It did not create a charitable classification and did not characterize professional football competition as an amateur charitable activity.

The NFL relinquished exemption in 2015

By giving up exemption, the NFL ended the league office’s Form 990 public information-return filing as a Section 501(c)(6) organization. That loss of Form 990 visibility was an important practical consequence because compensation and other financial details previously appeared in the public exempt-organization return.

Taxable entities still have federal filing and recordkeeping duties, but their income-tax returns generally are not public in the way Form 990 is. Relinquishing exemption therefore changed both the tax regime and the public disclosure channel.

The decision did not erase historical Form 990 filings or retroactively change the office’s prior exempt years. Federal tax status must be evaluated for the relevant tax period rather than projected backward from today’s structure.

Current federal law still mentions professional football leagues

The current text of Section 501(c)(6) expressly includes professional football leagues, whether or not they administer a pension fund for football players. Current IRS business-league guidance repeats that statutory language.

The express professional-football reference remains part of current federal law.

The statutory reference preserves a potential exempt category for a qualifying professional football league. It does not compel an organization to claim exemption or erase an organization’s voluntary decision to operate as taxable.

Statutory eligibility and the NFL’s actual status are different questions

Current Code language answers what kind of organization may potentially fit Section 501(c)(6), while entity-specific records answer whether the NFL league office actually claims that treatment. Both questions must be checked before describing the NFL’s status.

For the NFL, official Senate Finance Committee materials report that the league voluntarily gave up the exemption in 2015 and switched to a for-profit structure. The continuing professional-football language in Section 501(c)(6) does not reverse that entity-specific choice.

This distinction also explains why current IRS pages describing professional football leagues under Section 501(c)(6) are not proof that the NFL itself remains exempt. A generally available statutory classification and a particular organization’s current filing status are separate facts.

The NFL Foundation is a separate organization

The NFL Foundation describes itself as the league’s philanthropic organization and supports grants involving youth football, community programs, social justice initiatives, and player philanthropy. Its materials address Section 501(c)(3), grant eligibility, and Form 990 concepts.

A charitable foundation’s status does not make its sponsor, related league, or every affiliated club a charity. The league office, the foundation, club foundations, and individual teams can have different entities, taxpayer identification numbers, purposes, and federal classifications.

Someone considering a donation should verify the exact recipient rather than relying on “NFL” in the name. Federal deductibility depends on the recipient’s qualifying status, the type of payment, any value received in return, substantiation, and the donor’s own tax circumstances.

Nonprofit, tax-exempt, and for-profit are not interchangeable

“Nonprofit” often describes an entity’s formation under state organizational law, while “tax-exempt” describes a federal or state tax treatment that must satisfy separate requirements. An organization can be organized without owners under state law yet fail to qualify for a federal exemption.

Conversely, federal exemption does not mean an organization cannot collect substantial revenue, pay reasonable compensation, or operate large programs. The controlling questions are the statutory category, permitted purposes, private-benefit limits, and actual operations.

For the NFL, the direct answer is temporal: the league office once used Section 501(c)(6), voluntarily gave it up in 2015, and is not currently federally tax exempt on that basis. Separate NFL-related charities do not alter that answer.

Sources

• Current 26 U.S.C. § 501 federal exemption classifications
• IRS current guidance on professional football leagues
• Senate Finance Committee account of the NFL’s 2015 change
• Senate Finance Committee sports-league tax status summary
• IRS requirements for Section 501(c)(6) business leagues
• IRS Publication 557 on tax-exempt organizations
• IRS historical account of the 1966 football-league amendment
• NFL Foundation organization and grant FAQ