National Football League: Where has all the money gone? The final public filing for the NFL– they’re going private next year, taking all transparency with them– tells a strange story. The highly overpaid commissioner Roger Goodell is now “down” to just $15 million in compensation for 2015. (He made $35 million the year before, and $44 mil the year before that.) Goodell’s recent years of huge numbers brought a lot of criticism. Now there’s a suggestion that he’s deferring reported compensation until the NFL doesn’t have to file public reports as a foundation. And you know, he’s doing such a great job anyway!
The rest of the 2015 Form 990 report is a mystery, too. All the huge numbers from 2014 are severely reduced in 2015. Did revenue really fall from $619 million to $82 million? And did they really cut grants from $30 million to $2 million? NFL Foundation numbers seem to have deflated faster than Tom Brady’s balls!
Still, the staff seems to be soldiering on. I give them credit. (I do love the way there are no commas in Goodell’s salary, but commas in all the others.)
Meanwhile TV ratings for the NFL are down by 11% this year.
