Professor John Colombo was quoted in recent articles by Bloomberg and Crain's Chicago Business regarding the proposed tax legislation that eliminates the charitable deduction for payments to college athletic programs for skyboxes and seat licenses. Colombo argues that college sports should be taxed like the business it is.
"If you receive a quid pro quo," he told McClatchy Newspapers some years ago, "it's considered not to be a donation. The IRS has held that position forever. And it has been upheld by the court." But in the 1980s, after the Internal Revenue Service tried to enforce its position, Congress passed a law exempting mandatory donations for college sports tickets.
"Big time college sports is already a cesspool of money, and the federal government doesn't need to be subsidizing 50-yard-line seats or skyboxes at the University of Alabama or Notre Dame, or Michigan or anywhere else," Colombo said.
Full article at Bloomberg.com