WASHINGTON — The National Football League is giving up its tax-exempt status, which Commissioner Roger Goodell called a "distraction."
In a letter to team owners, Goodell said that the league office and its management council will file tax returns as taxable entities for the 2015 fiscal year. Goodell said the NFL has been tax-exempt since 1942, though all 32 teams pay taxes on their income.
Goodell said the change will not alter the function or operation of the league, since all the teams already pay taxes.
"As you know, the effects of the tax-exempt status of the league office have been mischaracterized repeatedly in recent years," Goodell said in the letter, dated Tuesday.