And you thought they were doing it out of national pride…
We’re not sure if we should be surprised about this, but it has emerged that there is a little more than meets the eye when it comes to the pomp and pageantry surrounding the US military at sporting events.
Anyone who has watched a US sporting event, either live or on television, will have seen the lengths teams will go to to honour members of the armed forces and their families, but it has now been revealed that in many cases, the teams in question have been paid, and handsomely, by the US Department of Defence for the heartfelt and emotional salutes.
In fact, between 2011 and 2014, fourteen NFL teams were paid a total of $5.4million for a range of promotions, covering advertising, digital videos and in-game segments such as the New York Jets’ ‘Hometown Hero’, in which particular soldiers are honoured on the big screen, thanked for their service and given free tickets to the game.
Arizona senator Jeff Flake told NJ.com: “Those of us go to sporting events and see them honoring the heroes. You get a good feeling in your heart. Then to find out they’re doing it because they’re compensated for it, it leaves you underwhelmed. It seems a little unseemly.
“They realize the public believes they’re doing it as a public service or a sense of patriotism. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”
We can’t see anything wrong with the military advertising and recruiting at sporting events, but we certainly aren’t going to look at any such apparent acts of public-spirited patriotism in the same way again.
