The
NFL’s involvement in Breast Cancer Awareness month has come under fire after
claims the league is profiting from the cause. Players have been wearing pink
caps, shirts, elbow pads, and boots and flashes of the color have adorned
towels and parts of the field throughout October across the U.S.
Fans can
buy pink items from the National Football League shop, or bid in auctions
for products seen during games.
The
proceeds ostensibly go to help support the fight against breast cancer, but
critics now allege that most of the cash ends up in the pockets of NFL
owners.
The
website tells fans they can ‘support the fight against breast cancer with pink
NFL breast cancer awareness gear.’
If the
products have a typical 100 per cent mark-up at retail point, that means the
NFL is keeping 90 per cent of the profit from the sale of the items.
Of the
money the ACS receives, only 70.8 per cent goes towards research and
cancer programs and a significant portion has to be spent on administration.
This
would mean that for every $100 in sales of pink products, $3.54 goes
towards research while the NFL keeps approximately $45.
Although
the proliferation of pink merchandise clearly helps awareness, these figures
may raise some eyebrows when you consider that NFL had $9.5billion in revenue
in 2011.
An NFL
spokesperson said that while they did not dispute the numbers above, the NFL
does not profit from the sale of pink merchandise. Any money that is not donated
to ACS is used to cover the costs of its breast cancer awareness program, A
Crucial Catch.
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