Quarterback Matt Leinart, a USC Heisman winner and a top-10 draft bust who has been out of the NFL since 2012, has found a way to make money in the sport, by running a flag football league. But Leinart may have gotten himself into a bit of a jam by blending this for-profit effort with his non-profit foundation.
According to Scott M. Reid of the Orange County Register, Leinart’s flag football league used his foundation to gain access and special rates to sports fields that wouldn’t have been available to the operation.
Per the report, the Matt Leinart Flag Football League registered as a non-profit group, avoiding “tens of thousands of dollars” through reduced fees for using the fields. Reid explains that, in one three-month period alone, the league’s use of the non-profit status allowed it to save almost $50,000.
Leinart runs youth flag football leagues in Irvine, Newport Beach/Costa Mesa, and South County. It costs $170 per player to participate.
Leinart’s brother, Ryan, essentially admits that Leinart borrowed the non-profit status of the foundation for the for-profit flag football league.
“What we found is that most cities require a [non-profit status] in order to rent their fields,” Ryan Leinart told Reid. “We talked with our legal counsel and were advised that it was OK to proceed with the foundation lending its non-profit status to the Matt Leinart Flag Football League. Because the foundation’s mission is to provide opportunities for youth to get involved in sports, we felt that by using our non-profit status in this manner, we were fulfilling our mission.”
It may not be that simple for Leinart in the future, and if he plans to continue to take advantage of the reluctance of parents to allow youths to play tackle football, Leinart may have to invest some money in buying his own land and building his own fields.
