The Pentagon’s practice of paying professional sports teams to honor American troops at games is more widespread than previously thought, according to a new oversight report.
The joint report released Wednesday by Arizona Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake exposing "paid patriotism" found that the Department of Defense has paid the NFL, MLB, and other major sports leagues over $10 million for marketing and advertising since 2012.
At least $6.8 million worth of contracts went to salutes, color guards, and singing of the National Anthem, and other tributes at games without disclosing they were paid for by the taxpayers.
"By paying for such heartwarming displays like recognition of wounded warriors, surprise homecomings, and on-field enlistment ceremonies, these displays lost their luster," the senators wrote. "Unsuspecting audience members became the subjects of paid-marketing campaigns rather than simply bearing witness to teams’ authentic, voluntary shows of support for the brave men and women who wear our nation’s uniform."
The report highlights numerous examples, including paying the LA Galaxy $1,500 to honor five Air Force officers, and $49,000 to the Milwaukee Brewers for the Wisconsin Army National Guard to sponsor the singing of "God Bless America" during Sunday home games.
The report analyzed 122 Pentagon contracts to the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS between 2012 and 2015, finding more than half included payment for patriotic tributes.
"These paid tributes included on-field color guard, enlistment and reenlistment ceremonies, performances of the national anthem, full-field flag details, ceremonial first pitches and puck drops," the report said.
In another example, part of a $1.5 million contract paid former NASCAR driver Richard Petty to make 20 visits with service members, and to provide 20 ride-alongs.
"DOD even paid teams for the ‘opportunity’ to perform surprise welcome home promotions for troops returning from deployments and to recognize wounded warriors," the report said.
The report noted that not all spending was inappropriate, including payments to teams to compensate for signs, social media mentions, and booth space for military recruiters at games.
The Atlanta Falcons received the most of any NFL team with $879,000. Most funding went towards events with the Georgia National Guard. Events at games included a color guard detail, flag runners to lead Falcons players out of the tunnel onto the field, video messages, and 80 National Guard Members to present a giant flag on the field during a military appreciation game.
The New England Patriots received the second highest with $700,000, followed by the Buffalo Bills who received $650,000.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to the senators on Monday saying that the league "strongly opposes" using recruitment funds for patriotic tributes.
"With respect to more specific claims around recruitment funds being used for tribute activities, we are conducting an audit of all contracts between our clubs and the military service branches or state National Guard units," he said. "If we find that inappropriate payments were made, they will be refunded in full."
The report is an extension from Sen. Flake’s exposure of paid military tributes at NFL games earlier this year. As a result, Flake and McCain were able to amend the National Defense Authorization Act to prohibit the Pentagon from spending taxpayer dollars on military tributes at sporting events.
"The United States Senate’s oversight has worked," the report said. "DOD has banned paid patriotism and the NFL has called on all clubs to stop accepting payment for patriotic salutes."
The senators said that additional oversight work remains, because the Pentagon "still cannot fully account for the nature and extent of paid patriotism activities."
"We are shining a bright light on this waste and abuse of taxpayer funds to ensure this practice is stopped once and for all, so that the taxpayer dollars allocated for national defense are actually spent on our brave men and women in uniform who are selflessly serving their country, not boondoggles," McCain and Flake said.