Did you know the NFL was a non-profit for a long time? So long in fact, it exposed the farce of nonpros. Embarrassingly so.
In fact, when they changed their status over a decade ago, they now no longer have to submit a 990 and have less transparency of their operations.
You are phrasing this situation to paint all non-profits as a farce, and I believe that's a bad faith take.
My point was, nonpros are used as financial instruments by and large. The NFL gave it up for optics, else they wouldn't have.