Sports team owners can fully deduct the value of their sports team over a 10-year period while the asset appreciates.
Posted by The MeidasTouch Podcast, Checked
- Sources
- 6 contradict1 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 85%
The MeidasTouch PodcastSep 15, 2026
The core claim holds: sources confirm that team owners can amortize the purchase price of a team while the team's value rises. But the claim's 10-year period is contradicted by multiple sources that describe a 15-year schedule, and 'fully' overstates a deduction that covers roughly 90 to 100 percent of the price.
A detail. The sources confirm the gist; the verdict faults a detail such as a date, number or wording.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… We could, we could have intelligent conversations of what that looks like, right? Because they're getting exemptions everywhere. They're getting sports team exemptions. I talked about that in the last episode. You know, they can fully deduct, over the 10 year period, the value of their sports team while the asset appreciates. Just go and think about that, while they then prohibit Macklemore from saying "Free Palestine" and exercising his free speech rights, while they're able to deduct the value of their sports team and take advantage of appreciation, and then take out loans …
The MeidasTouch Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. The deduction period is 15 years, not 10. Tax Foundation, ProPublica, PwC, SABR and the Spokesman-Review all describe a 15-year amortization schedule.[2][3][4][5][6]
Contradicts. 'Fully' overstates the deduction: sources say about 90 percent of the purchase price is amortizable, or 'almost 100 percent' in SABR's description.[1][5]
Supports. Sources confirm owners can deduct the purchase price of a team through amortization even though the team's value typically rises over time.[1][6][7]
Context. A 2025 House bill would have cut the write-off to half the value, applying only to future owners. It was not in force as of the sources' reporting.[6]
Sources
7 sources: 1 primary, 1 tier 2, 5 not rated
- 1How Sports Team Owners Avoid Tax Liabilityvillanova.edu · primary source · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 2The Billionaire Playbook: How Sports Owners Use Their ...propublica.org · tier 2 · cited for: contradicts
- 3Amortization Deductions for Sports Teams Properly Part of the Income Tax Systemtaxfoundation.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 4Tax benefits for private equity in sports investingpwc.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 5The Roster Depreciation Allowance: How Major League Baseball ...sabr.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 6House bill takes aim at tax break for sports ownersspokesman.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts, supports, context
- 7Investing in a Sports Franchise: Key Considerations for ...loeb.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post