Professor Testifies How NFL Hides Profits

A Stanford economics professor testified in the NFL antitrust trial in Minneapolis that the league’s reported $1.3 billion in revenue for 1990 is understated because of the way the owners do their books.

Roger Noll, testifying for the plaintiffs, told the jury that the teams record certain money as operating costs to make themselves look less profitable.

As an example, Noll used the salary of owner Norman Braman of the Philadelphia Eagles. Noll said that his analysis of the NFL’s financial statement showed that Braman paid himself a salary of $7.5 million for 1990.

That salary was recorded as general expenses, when it could have been counted as profit for the Eagles’ owner, Noll said.

A $7.5-million salary to the president of a company that earned $45 million in revenue isn’t justified, Noll said.