NFL commissioner Roger Goodell CREDIT: (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) In a memo to NFL owners and a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) this week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the league had decided to voluntarily give up its tax-exempt status. Under tax law, the NFL and other professional sports leagues have been able to organize as 501(c)(6) non-profit trade organizations.