In the hopes of ending what they view as "paid patriotism" that benefits wealthy sports leagues at the expense of taxpayers, the two Arizona Republicans' investigation has prompted the National Football League to examine all of its contracts with the Department of Defense. And though the NFL has a newly instituted ban on such deals and the Pentagon is discontinuing the practice of paying for patriotic displays at games and events, the senators say there is far more work to do.
The senators charge that the Defense Department's response to their investigation fell short of fixing the problem, and they suggest the department is at the very least unaware of the sprawling number of deals there are with various multi-billion dollar sports leagues. The senators found 122 contracts worth $10.4 million spent over four years, but the department only included 62 percent of those marketing and advertising contracts with the five major sports leagues in correspondence delivered to the GOP investigators.
Flake and McCain say there's far more to this story.
"Direct and persistent sunlight is the best way to ensure that such activities are not continued," the senators wrote. "Taxpayers — not the teams — paid for patriotism and VIP perks. It is time to allow major sports teams' legitimate tributes to our soldiers to shine with national pride rather than being cast under the pallor of marketing gimmicks paid for by American taxpayers."
The report lists dozens of examples of spending deals between the Pentagon and pro sports leagues, a list that lands just a month before negotiators must seal a year-end spending deal and could find the leagues again under fire given intense public interest in the contracts. In a policy bill earlier this year, senators voted to ban spending taxpayer dollars on honor ceremonies for veterans and active military after national media picked up Flake's concern about "paid patriotism."
In the report unveiled Wednesday, the two senators cataloged $879,000 spent by the Georgia Army National Guard with the Atlanta Falcons on color-guard performances and video board tributes and $450,000 spent by the same unit on the Atlanta Braves. Beyond Atlanta, investigators say the Defense Department paid the Seattle Sounders soccer team $128,000 over the past four years on "a compelling Army National Guard public service message" to be played at games and $115,000 spent was spent on the Indiana Pacers for perks including parking passes and access to a luxury conference room. College sports programs and NASCAR were also dinged by Flake and McCain, along with the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL and MLS.
But the bulk of the spending was associated with the NFL, where four teams received more than $500,000 a piece over the past four years from Defense Department contracts. That revelation has NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell scrubbing the league's books to make sure they withstand scrutiny.
"We are conducting an audit of all contracts between our clubs and the military service branches or state National Guard units. If we find that inappropriate payments were made, they will be refunded in full. We will share the results of this review with you," Goodell wrote to the senators on Monday. He advised them to call him personally if they have further concerns.
Flake began digging into the "paid patriotism" contracts in May, prompting the Pentagon and NFL to begin investigating the practice and officially separate advertising and marketing from military appreciation this summer. And the Arizona conservative is prepping a new flurry of investigations for the end of the year: He is assuming the budget-cutting mantle of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) by taking over the annual "Wastebook," a document viewed by many on the right as a blueprint for which wasteful spending to tackle next.
Comment: If you've gone to games or watched TV, you've been exposed to these ads. Big American flags, salutes to the troops, even "God Bless America": all one big Pentagon ad. These were carefully staged patriotic displays meant to drum up goodwill and recruiting that weren't publicly disclosed as paid advertisements, at the taxpayer's expense no less. All to generate more cannon fodder for America's illegal wars overseas. It is but a drop in the bucket for the Pentagon, who spend billions on fighting wars overseas and creating enemies to scare the American public, but for the sports teams benefiting it is a lot of money. The least they could do is be upfront that it is a paid advertisement.