US: Senator launches bid to end NFL antitrust exemption

A US Senator is set to introduce legislation that would end the NFL’s antitrust exemption and other benefits it enjoys from its status as a nonprofit company if the League fails to change the name of the Washington Redskins, seen by critics as a highly offensive and racist moniker.

According to reports, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced Tuesday that she will introduce a bill to end the league’s antitrust exemption, along with its tax-exempt status and other benefits, following controversy over the NFL’s refusal to change the Redskins name. Cantwell, who was once the char of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said she is launching the Change the Mascot campaign to have the team name changed.

”The NFL needs to join the rest of Americans in the 21st century,” she said in a statement. “It is about right and wrong.”

The Change the Mascot group is backed by a coalition of Native American and social justice groups, reports say, and includes the National congress of American Indians and the Oneida Indian Nation. The group is pressing the NFL’s other 31 team owners to force Redskins owner Dan Snyder to change the team name and mascot.

In a letter sent to NFL team owners, the Change the Mascot group argues that due to the league’s tax-exempt status and antirust exemptions, the owners must ensure that “taxpayer resources are no longer being expended to promote this slur,” referring to the Redskins name, say reports.

Full content: Washington Post

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