Seahawks' Sale Price Could Take a Hit After IRS Denies Tax Break
- Agency’s proposed rules bar team owners from key deduction
- Franchise owners argue sports teams aren’t in sports business
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Two major sports franchises might soon be on the auction block following Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen’s death last week. But a recent Internal Revenue Service rule could cut the teams’ sales prices.
Allen died with no heirs and a $26 billion dollar estate including the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks and the National Basketball Association’s Portland Trail Blazers. The teams together are worth more than $3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In addition to factors such as TV ratings and scarcity of teams for sale, their prices could have been enhanced by President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law, which seemed to hand sports franchise owners a tax break.