Is the NFL socialist?
That was certainly the implication made by fake news anchor Jon Stewart on The Daily Show on Tuesday. That evening’s episode featured a four minute segment on the nature of socialism, and the different takes on what government actions constitute socialism from President Barack Obama and Republican Presidential nominee (and former Massachusetts governor) Mitt Romney.
To close the bit, Stewart sarcastically asked, “What’s more American than the NFL? Now there’s a business run the right way.”
The segment then immediately moved to clips from an episode of CBS News and an interview with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell plainly stating that the league’s revenue sharing system “is a form of socialism, and it’s worked quite well for us.”
The CBS clip notes that each of the NFL franchises share most of their revenue with each other — a strategy that is apparently unpopular with the league’s conservative owners — which essentially means that teams like the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots subsidize clubs like the Cincinnati Bengals and St. Louis Rams.
Watch The Daily Show clip below to hear Stewart’s take on the NFL’s business model.
