Why Did the NFL Give Up Its Tax-Exempt Status?

The National Football League is giving up its controversial tax-exempt status, according to the New York Times.

With both Commissioner Roger Goodell and Houston Texans owner Robert McNair calling it a "distraction," Goodell said in a letter to team owners that "the league office and its management council will file tax returns as taxable entities for the 2015 fiscal year." The commissioner made the switch after team owners gave the league's finance committee and management council the authority to change the tax status at meetings in March.

According to Bloomberg News, Goodell's memorandum said the NFL's tax-exempt status had...