What does the NBA, MLB, NFL and other professional sports leagues do with fines?

The NBA uses that money on different things: a retired players’ pension fund, and I think the “how to behave yourselves in public when you have a bajillion dollars but no common sense or education and no one ever said no to you” class for rookies is also paid for in part with that money.

So does the money become reserve or something? I would think that they have regular money already alloted for those kinds of things.

I couldn’t imagine them using fines to regularly cover the costs of those things because the inflow of that money is inconsistent.

I think some of the money is used to fund the Charitable Foundations of each team.

“According to the NFL bylaws, all fines collected throughout the season must be divided evenly between organizations dedicated to the betterment of humanity. The following four organizations are not-for-profits whose focus is helping people both in and outside the NFL:

* The Brian Piccolo Cancer Fund
* The Vincent T. Lombardi Cancer Research Center
* The ALS Neuromuscular Research Foundation
* The NFLPA Player Assistance Trust”

Source

“NBA officials do not publicize the identities of charitable organizations that receive money collected from league fines and lost salary (players are charged 1/90th of their salary for each missed game). That total—plucked from the pocketbooks of players, coaches, owners and even game officials—has now surpassed $8 million, prior to appeal.

The NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), per the league’s collective bargaining agreement, equally split fines paid by players, then donate the respective shares to the charities of their choice. Only the NBPA has to approve of the NBA charities, and not vice-versa, according to Dan Wasserman, spokesman for the players’ association. ”

ESPN

National Hockey League
“Approximately $1.25 million has been collected this season, mostly from players salaries lost during league-levied suspensions. All money collected is donated to the NHL Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund, which helps financially-strapped former players, league spokesman Frank Brown said.”

ESPN

“Baseball funnels fine money either to a central fund, which is shared among the league’s 30 teams, or in some cases it goes to the charity of the player’s choice, according to Rich Levin, the league’s spokesman. Baseball player fines and suspensions are considered minimal when compared to the other leagues.”

ESPN