Does anyone know if this made it through the final tax bill?

http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2017/11/go...

Here is the summary the the joint committee published for the current law.

College athletic seating rights. In general, where a taxpayer receives or expects to receive a substantial return benefit for a payment to charity, the payment is not deductible as a charitable contribution. However, special rules apply to certain payments to institutions of higher education in exchange for which the payor receives the right to purchase tickets or seating at an athletic event. Specifically, the payor may treat 80 percent of a payment as a charitable contribution where: (1) the amount is paid to or for the benefit of an institution of higher education (as defined in section 3304(f)) described in section (b)(1)(A)(ii) (generally, a school with a regular faculty and curriculum and meeting certain other requirements), and (2) such amount would be allowable as a charitable deduction but for the fact that the taxpayer receives (directly or indirectly) as a result of the payment the right to purchase tickets for seating at an athletic event in an athletic stadium of such institution.

And here is the summary published for what is proposed:
Denial of deduction for college athletic event seating rights
The proposal amends section 170(l) to provide that no charitable deduction shall be allowed for any amount described in paragraph 170(l)(2), generally, a payment to an institution of higher education in exchange for which the payor receives the right to purchase tickets or seating at an athletic event, as described in greater detail above.

I haven't heard much about this issue, but isn't it going to be harder to make deductions matter in the first place because the standard deduction is going to be doubled? I hope this doesn't discourage giving to universities or other charities from people whose typical giving puts them in between the old and new standard deduction.

Most reasonable estimates that I've seen -- based on tax return data from the last few years -- put roughly 20% of non-profit donations at risk in 2018. Some will do better and some will do worse depending on relationships, donor mix and ability to demonstrate tangible impact. Most of the pinch will likely occur in the middle to upper middle income donor segments. There are benefits and drawbacks to any tax reform package, and, it will take time to see how this shakes out.

In some respects, this will accelerate change that is already happening at a rapid pace. I expect the trend toward consolidations/mergers to continue in this sector, increased numbers of non-profits closing their doors, diversification of funding types (including for profit and social enterprise expansion), better use and upgrading technology; and, greater emphasis on major gifts.


In terms of athletics, I would look for increased emphasis on sponsorships. If there is increased economic activity based on a corporate income tax decrease that might mean greater opportunity for league level sponsorships for companies with a broader footprint and individual university or regional sponsorships. Anyone know the length of or how the IMG partnership works?

Interesting and if true, we are in trouble because there are very few businesses to sell OU tickets to.

Back to the issue of donations, it will be very interesting to see what approach we take this coming year. For a couple with itemized deductions less than 24K, one approach would be that you are still getting the deduction. That may fall on deaf ears like the JC Penney approach. People like sales and people like deductions. Obviously the required donation is going to be frozen for the foreseeable future.