Trump’s spending bill to slash tax breaks for sports team owners

The GOP spending bill that advanced through the House includes a proposal to slash tax breaks for sports team owners in half – which could slow deals by the ultra-rich to buy NBA and NFL teams.

Since 2004, owners of sports teams have been able to write off the entire value of intangible assets – like player contracts and sponsorships – over a period of 15 years. 

These assets typically make up the bulk of a team’s value, accounting for hundreds of millions of dollars in deductibles for owners.

But President Trump’s massive 1,100-page tax bill, which the House approved last Thursday, would chop the amount owners could write off by half. The bill is now headed for the Senate.

Those changes would raise an estimated $991 million in revenue over 10 years, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

Current sports team owners would not be impacted, only future acquisitions, but the tax break change could significantly cool the speedy pace of dealmaking among billionaires.

Just earlier this year, investor Bill Chisholm bought the Boston Celtics for a record-breaking $6.1 billion.

NFL team owners, during a two-day meeting last week, were encouraged to call senators in their home states and urge them not to include a similar provision in the Senate version of the bill, according to The New York Times.

The write-off change “felt punitive” and like a means for Trump to gain leverage over the team owners, the president of one NFL team told the Times.

The White House denied this claim, arguing the provision is meant to punish teams for inflating ticket prices.

“The President is committed to ensuring that sports teams overcharging ticketholders do not receive favorable tax treatment,” spokesperson Harrison Fields told The Post in a statement.

“His focus is on fairness for fans, not team ownership.”

The NFL last year was ordered to pay nearly $5 billion in damages over an antitrust class action suit that accused the football giant of overcharging for Sunday Ticket, a subscription service that showed out-of-market games.

Season ticket-holders, meanwhile, have sued the Houston Texans team for more than $1 million, alleging it charged them more than other ticket holders.

The White House declined to clarify to which incident of overcharging the spokesperson is referring.

More than 40 of the world’s 500 richest individuals own sports teams based in the US, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

They boast a combined net worth of nearly $1 trillion, with some of the biggest names in business sitting courtside.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who has a $132.5 net worth, bought the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion in 2014. 

The value of the team has soared to $5.5 billion from $575 million since Ballmer’s purchase, according to Forbes.

Walmart heir Rob Walton bought the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion in 2022, which was then a record sale price.

Las Vegas Sands billionaire Miriam Adelson has taken a multi-billion dollar stake in the Dallas Mavericks, while Point72 hedge fund titan Steve Cohen owns the New York Mets.