Patriots among highest-earning teams in ‘paid patriotism’
A report detailing how much money the U.S. Department of Defense shelled out for professional sports teams to host patriotic moments at games revealed that the Patriots were among the highest-earning NFL teams in “paid patriotism.’’
Pay-for-patriotism was found responsible for some of those seemingly spontaneous, feel-good moments at NFL games, including military appreciation nights or covering the field with a giant flag, according to the report, by Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake. The report found that from 2012 to 2015, the DOD spent a total of $6.1 million to fund such acts within the NFL alone.
The Patriots received $700,000 for hosting various patriotic marketing tactics, making them the second highest paid team, according to the report. The Falcons were paid the most for their displays of patriotism, raking in $879,000. As Yahoo! Sports noted, these sums of money aren’t very significant to teams, as $700,000 covers Tom Brady’s salary for just three quarters of a game.
The report revealed that the Patriots received money for recognizing a soldier at each home game as part of a true patriot promotion, tickets and tailgate passes that included food and beverages, more than 100 training camp passes, and use of hospitality suites.
“If we find that inappropriate payments were made,’’ NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote, according to ESPN, “they will be refunded in full.’’
A Patriots spokesman told The Boston Globe Wednesday night that the team has honored members of the armed forces at games for two decades. “Only recently, as a part of much larger advertising agreements utilized by the Massachusetts Army National Guard for recruitment and retention, have we tried to brand all of our army activations with them,’’ he said.
McCain and Flake said that they hope the report’s findings will spur President Barack Obama to amend the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act to prohibit such paid ceremonies and events.
“Given the immense sacrifices made by our service members, it seems more appropriate that any organization with a genuine interest in honoring them, and deriving public credit as a result, should do so at its own expense and not at that of the American taxpayer,’’ the report stated.
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