Leadership / 12.20.17

Tax Reform Nixes Season-Ticket Donation Deductions

Access Staff

ESPN.com (12/20/17) by Darren Rovell

The congressionally-approved U.S. tax reform package carries significant implications for college sports' ticketing policies by eliminating an allowance for boosters to take a tax deduction on donations related to season tickets. Fans could previously deduct 80 percent of such donations, but the tax reform's passage is creating uncertainty about its effect on college sports. In anticipation of this outcome, colleges have alerted boosters that contributing money before Jan. 1 for the 2018 season, and even later, would give them the current deduction. The University of Oklahoma, Florida State University, and Southern Methodist University have offered boosters the ability to pay upfront for multiple years of season-ticket donations to exploit the current deduction. "These are not easy suggestions to make," notes Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione. "Because you can't just paint everyone with a broad brush. You have to know who these people are and their capacity to do what you are suggesting because they're all at different income levels." Castiglione notes it is much too early to predict what the effect of the new tax laws will be, but he says he has "come to the conclusion that the impact is going to be significant."

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Tags: Sports , Regulations , News