Seattle’s decision to throw the ball at the goal line with 20 seconds to go in last night’s Super Bowl was a costly one. But in the long run, it won’t be nearly as costly to the rest of America as the National Football League itself.

Every year, the NFL rakes in around $9.5 billion in revenue. Its commissioner, Roger Goodell, meanwhile, has an annual salary of $44 million. And while those numbers might make sense for any big business, the NFL isn’t a business - not technically, at least.

According to the Public Law 89-800, it’s a 501(c)6 tax-exempt non-profit. That’s right, a non-profit. In other words, the NFL, one of the most lucrative organizations in all of sports, is subsidized by you and me the taxpayers. If that sounds ridiculous and absurd, that’s because it is ridiculous and absurd.

There’s absolutely no reason why the NFL needs taxpayer subsidies to stay in business. Other sports leagues, like Major League Baseball, stopped taking handouts from the government years ago, and are doing just fine as far as making money is concerned. But juicing the public is what the NFL is all about. And even though individual franchises are taxable for-profit businesses, they all find ways to bleed taxpayers dry.

The most obvious way they do this is by getting the public to foot the bill for their stadiums. According to some studies, taxpayers have actually put forward 70 percent of the cost of NFL stadiums nationwide.

The idea, of course, is that public money is an investment that will pay dividends in the form of booming business activity in the area surrounding the stadium. But there’s no evidence that this is actually the case, and Bloomberg estimates that over the next few decades, taxpayers will lose almost $4 billion on stadium deals. And to make matters worse, money that’s spent on NFL stadium deal is money that then can’t be spent on more important things, like healthcare.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... What we can learn from the Irish Rebellion? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Be sure to check out our new videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio

Need to Know: What we can learn from the Irish Rebellion?
- Richard Eskow, Campaign for America's Future / The Zero Hour

Screwed: Is there a problem with universal child care?
- Lori Sanders, R Street Institute

PLUS, Rural hospital closures are a REAL danger
- Mayor Adam O'Neal, (R-Bellhaven, NC) / Save Our Hospital

Best of the Rest: The Dalai Lama Awakening
- Khashyar Darvich, Dalai Lama Awakening & Compassion in Action

Everything You Know Is Wrong: Technocracy and the new world order
- Patrick M. Wood, Technocracy Rising: The Trojan Horse Of Global Transformation / The August Forecast & Review.

Monday's Daily Stack

Article: "Irish Water Tax Rebellion Marches on as Thirty Thousand Take to Streets" by Lauren McCauley.

Book: "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" by Naomi Klein.

Article: "Spain rally: Podemos holds Madrid mass 'March for Change'" by BBC.

Article: "'The Republican Mandate': 50 Percent More People Have Voted Democrat Since 2010" by Richard Rowe.

Speech: "Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union" by Richard Nixon, January 22, 1970.

Article: "Transcript Of Scott Walker - “David Koch” Conversation".

Article: "10 Reprehensible Crimes Of Ronald Reagan" by Nathan Wold.

Article: "Fast track (trade)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Trans-Pacific Partnership" (TPP) by Wikipedia.

Quote: "They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution." - The Danger of American Fascism" by Henry A. Wallace.

Book: "Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception" by Thom Hartmann.

Book: "The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child"

Article: "A Nutritional Model for Effecting Change in Behavior-Disordered and Severely Emotionally Disturbed Victims of Child Abuse: The Experiences of the Salem Children's Villages" by Thomas C. Hartmann, Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry, 1st Quarter 1981.

Article: "Capitalism has broken free of the shackles of democracy" by Slavoj Zizek.

Article: "Scott Walker To Cut $300 Million From Universities, Spend $500 Million On A Pro Basketball Stadium" by Alice Ollstein.

Law: "Taft-Hartley Labor Act", 1947.

Article: "Ludlow Massacre", 1914 by Wikipedia.

Law: "The National Labor Relations Act (The Wagner Act)", 1935.

Video: "Conversation with Great Minds" with Richard Trumka, Part 1.

Video: "Conversation with Great Minds" with Richard Trumka, Part 2.

Hour Two: Conservative mandate for an even more me vs we society
- Attorney Gayle Trotter, Independent Womens Forum

Article: "How A ‘Citizens’ Mandate’ Can Offer The GOP Winning Playbook For Obama’s Last Two Years" by Gayle Trotter.

Article: "Stop the Fundamental Transformation of America: Citizens’ Mandate from November 2014 Election".

Article: "The Senate's 46 Democrats got 20 million more votes than its 54 Republicans" by Dylan Matthews.

Law: "Tax Reform Act of 1986".

Article: "Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan & Kevin McCarthy: Plot To Sabotage US Economy with Frank Luntz" by keepemhonest.

Site: The Tricycle Collective.

Article: "Tricycle Collective Evicted from Cobo Hall For Helping Keep Families in Their Homes" by Captain.

Case: "Norfolk et al v. Cobo Hall Conference and Exhibition Center et al".

Site: Detroit Water Brigade.

Site: ALEC Exposed.

Article: "President Obama Descended From 14 Revolutionary War Veterans" by Richard Rowe.

Article: "Zachariah who? States swap out statues in Capitol hall of fame" by Richard Simon.

Article: "Teapot Dome scandal" by Wikipedia.

Site: Ronald Reagan Legacy Project.

Video: "Ronald Reagan States' Rights Speech in Philadelphia, MS", August 3, 1980.

Book: Death in the Pines: An Oakley Tyler Novel by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Affirmative action" by Wikipedia.

Case: "Regents of the University of California v. Bakke", 1978.

Article: "Eugenics" by Wikipedia.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones

Article: "Groundhog day: Punxsutawney Phil forecasts six more weeks of winter".

Article: "Obama To Propose $4 Trillion Budget Plan, Focus On Infrastructure" by William McDonald.

Article: "HHS Proposed Budget Seeks $83.8 Billion" by TRNS.

Article: "Christie Sends Mixed Messages On Vaccinations" by TRNS.

Article: "Dalai Lama, Barack Obama Set to Appear in Public Together for First Time" by Elizabeth Dias.

Article: "China Warns Obama Against Meeting Dalai Lama at Prayer Breakfast" by Ting Shi.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 2/2" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: Standing up for medicaid expansion
- Mayor Adam O'Neal (R-Bellhaven, NC), Save Our Hospital

Video: In Memory of Portia Gibbs: No more deaths for lack of a hospital.

Movie: "Dalai Lama Renaissance" documentary. Narrated by Harrison Ford. Featuring Thom!

Article: "Flint’s emergency manager says city not switching back to Detroit water" by Walter Smith-Randolph.

Book: "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" by Naomi Klein.

Article: "Remembering iconic Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1937" by Lorene Parshall.

Catch a special screening of Dalai Lama Awakening & Compassion in Action in a city near you (narrated by Harrison Ford & featuring Thom Hartmann!)
- Documentary film producer/director Khashyar Darvich

Movie: "Dalai Lama Awakening".

Movie: "Compassion in Action (Dalai Lama Awakening Vol 2)".

Article: "How Margaret Thatcher became known as 'Milk Snatcher'" by Rebecca Smith.

Article: "Christie Taps Emergency Manager for Atlantic City" by Heather Haddon and Josh Dawsey.

Book: "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It" by Thom Hartmann.

Bible: "Matthew 19:16-30 The Rich and the Kingdom of God" It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Bible: "Matthew 5: The Sermon on the Mount".

Article: "Wall Street Is Hard at Work Cooking Up the Next Financial Collapse" by Robert Reich.

Article: "Legal Marijuana Is The Fastest-Growing Industry In The U.S.: Report" by Matt Ferner.

Article: "Greece election: Anti-austerity Syriza wins election" by BBC.

Article: "As European Left Cheers, Syriza Vows to Move Swiftly To End Greek 'Nightmare'" by Jon Queally.

Article: "Statement on the Election in Greece" by Senator Bernie Sanders.

Article: "Map: 16 states have more people in prisons and jails than college housing" by German Lopez.

Article: "Bernie Sanders flips the script with 'deficits' plan" by Rebecca Shabad.

Tuesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

We'll have the latest news and information...everything you need to know to win the water cooler wars...

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Please support the Hunter School, a unique therapeutic boarding school for young children diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety, Sensory, Mood and related conditions...

Should the NFL's non-profit, tax-exempt status be revoked?

Vote here!

Conversations w/Great Minds P1 - Derald Wing Sue - The Ultimate White Privilege

Big Picture Rumble - Can We Now Admit Reaganomics Failed?

Big Picture Rumble - Why Mitt Really Quit

Conversations w/Great Minds P2 - Derald Wing Sue - Is Anyone Color Blind?

Full Show 1/30/2015: Conversations with Great Minds: Professor Derald W. Sue

In tonight’s Conversations with Great Minds, Professor Derald W. Sue, author of Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race, talks with Thom about race relations in America and what needs to be done.

On tonight’s Big Picture Rumble, Thom talks billionaires takeover of democracy in America and how the country is moving dangerously close to a plutocracy. Plus, Pres. Obama’s call to reverse sequester, the failed war in Afghanistan, Sen. Bernie Sanders infrastructure plan, Keystone XL pipeline passes in the Senate, and Argentina’s murder scandal. Shelby Emmett of Project 21, Democracy for America Communications Director Neil Sroka and George Landrith, Frontiers of Freedom President join Thom on set.

Government Spending is Only Good When Someone makes a Buck

Caller: Water has Always been a Free Right in Ireland

The REAL "austerity" agenda is to privatize the commons

Thom Hartmann on Economic & Labor News: February 2, 2015

No More Reports from the Scenes of Bush's War Crimes