From Forbes, Did Tax Ploy Help Saints Win Super Bowl?
In a just-filed U.S. Tax Court lawsuit, the partnership owning the Saints acknowledges that it didn’t treat an $8.5 million annual payment from the state of Louisiana as income and therefore didn’t pay taxes on the sum. Rather, the team said the money was an addition to “working capital” and a nontaxable transaction.
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According to the lawsuit, the $8.5 million was one of a series of “inducement payments” starting in 2001 for 10 years to keep the National Football League team in New Orleans. The lawsuit says, the money was to be used, among other things, to “acquire additional and higher-priced player contacts” to make the team “more competitive in the NFL.”