The organizations are not non-profits in the sense that any reasonable person ignorant of the particular tax laws would expect. The type of "non-profit" status

The organizations are not non-profits in the sense that any reasonable person ignorant of the particular tax laws would expect. The type of "non-profit" status the NFL has is as a pass-through organization. It takes money in, then redistributes it to its for-profit stakeholders, which then pay taxes. The "non-profit" status is merely to avoid double-taxation of the very much for-profit teams. They don't get any of the benefits you would expect of a real "non-profit", like tax-deductible charitable contributions.