U.S. Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have released a report detailing just how much the U.S. Department of Defense has been paying pro teams for those "patriotic" moments that make us all feel so good to be American. The report indicates that of 122 contracts with pro teams across the NFL, the NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer, 72 of them, totaling $6.8 million, had some form of so-called "paid patriotism."
What exactly is "paid patriotism"? According to the report, many activities that seem either spontaneous or done out of the goodness of teams' hearts, like National Anthems, full-field American flags, and ceremonial first pitches, were bought and paid for by the DOD.
A few of the more egregious NFL-related examples of patriotism-based sports marketing cited by the report:
• The Vikings were paid for the "opportunity" to sponsor a military appreciation night.
• The Jets received $20,000 for a "Hometown Heroes" promotion, and were paid to recognize New Jersey Army National Guard soldiers at their home games (a deal that included Coaches Club access)
• The Atlanta Falcons received DOD funds to honor wounded warriors and to have a National Guard member sing the National Anthem.
“Americans across the country should be deeply disappointed that many of the ceremonies honoring troops at professional sporting events are not actually being conducted out of a sense of patriotism, but for profit in the form of millions in taxpayer dollars going from the Department of Defense to wealthy pro sports franchises,” Sen. McCain said in a statement announcing the release of the report. “Fans should have confidence that their hometown heroes are being honored because of their honorable military service, not as a marketing ploy.”
The DOD has long maintained that the patriotic efforts are a means of improving recruiting, but as the report noted, the DOD has provided no evidence to demonstrate this is in fact the case.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has pledged to investigate the receipt of funds from the DOD, and pledged to pay back the funds if in fact they were used as a means of direct pay-for-patriotism. "If we find that inappropriate payments were made, they will be refunded in full," Goodell said in a statement.
The NFL received the largest share of the funds spent on patriotic marketing from 2012 to 2015, a total of $6.1 million out of $10.5 million spent on all leagues. Here's a specific team-by-team breakdown of which NFL teams received the most funding for patriotic activity:
 | @BartHubbuch | |
The worst NFL offenders in terms of Defense Dept. $$ for paid "patriotic tributes," per the Congressional report. pic.twitter.com/TXC6uW0myn
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In and of themselves, these figures aren't enormously financially significant to NFL teams; the $700,000 the Patriots received would have paid for just over three quarters of one game from Tom Brady. But the obvious takeaway is the cynicism at work here, the way that everyone involved played on patriotic emotions and goodwill as part of an exercise that was, at its heart, fundamentally capitalistic. Which, as it turns out, is as American as you can get, even if it's not the way the teams and the DOD intended.
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