There is value in the data. Value in knowing not only the “why” but the “who” behind the numbers. In August 2014, Forbes magazine shared “the Little League World Series has attracted attention like never before. A whopping 34,128 sports fans attended the Pennsylvania-Nevada game in Williamsport (including newly elected Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred), with another million people watching from home. To put that into perspective, nearly 10,000 more fans showed up to watch Pennsylvania play live than showed up to watch the Philadelphia Phillies.”
Today, nearly 2.4 million kids play Little League Baseball. Unlike Major League Baseball which is not tax exempt (it dropped its status in 2008), Little League Baseball, Inc., is tax exempt. In 1981, Little League received a group exemption letter from the Internal Revenue Service that allows local leagues to take advantage of Little League’s status by inclusion under their federal group exemption number. Local leagues also have the option to apply for their own tax-exempt status with IRS: a quick search with IRS Select Check reveals that dozens of leagues have done exactly that.
Little League Baseball, Inc., has filed its most recent form 990. The group reported revenues of $24,531,629 for fiscal year ending September 2012. They spent $21,694,953, including funds for leaving them in the black for the year (they dipped into the red the year before when revenues were down). More than 85% of expenses were directed to programming: just 14% was spent on administrative expenses, earning the organization a 85.59 rating (out of 100) by Charity Navigator. Overall, the organization reported a healthy $78,465,028 in assets for the last fiscal year.
So what happens when America’s hero’s become bruised? When black boys that were hailed champions are now being dubbed as “cheats”. When the rules on residency do not reflect inclusion of the dynamics many black families face. Black children are raised by grandparents, aunts and uncles and older cousins routinely for a number of socio-economic reasons all in the name of and on the strength of the word “family”, not court docs. When you bruise the pride of the black consumer, especially when it comes to what this demographic embraces as “good boys, great athletes and great students”, the push back can and will show up in how this demographic spends, relates and interacts with mainstream America. Bias is fed by lack of knowledge, lack of insights and lack of compassion.
