How Much Money Does The Federal Government Give To The Nfl Each Year
The NFL and the war machine are similar two peas in a pod in a number of ways. From the "battle" themes to the uniforms, professional person football game is rife with militaristic themes. Like Roman gladiators, when NFL players take the field we get to see them duke it out in the oestrus of competition. They go to battle, and a victor is crowned after using plenty of strategic planning and brute force.
And the players and team owners are rewarded handsomely, of course — much more so than your average soldier. But that'south a unlike story.
Controversies involving the national anthem and player protests are dominating the chat when it comes to the NFL. While the national anthem protest started with Colin Kaepernick's attempt to bring attending to police violence and racial issues, President Donald Trump has hijacked it and fabricated it about something else entirely. In his eyes, taking a genu during the anthem is a slap in the confront to the military, veterans, and the country at large.
Although it'll be some time before all of that gets sorted out, we tin look back at another curious manner in which the NFL and armed services have interwoven themselves. If you remember a couple of years ago, it was revealed that the Section of Defence force was paying the NFL for patriotic displays at the taxpayers' expense. This was surprising to many people who figured the NFL was probably more than happy to eat the costs to honor veterans, find tickets for soldiers, and host flyovers before games.
As information technology turns out, the league was not eating those costs. Information technology was more of a marketing stunt than anything else. Given the controversy surrounding the troops, the national anthem, and the NFL, it's a good time to look back at the revelations concerning the Section of Defense and the NFL — and dig into how much coin was involved.
If y'all missed the whole controversy the commencement time effectually, y'all might exist surprised at just how much of your tax dollars were spent on marketing for the military. As a teaser, the total was more than $v 1000000 in only a three-year span. Here'south how the numbers pause down between the NFL and the war machine.
The NFL and the military: A short history
- Government records show NFL teams have received millions from the Department of Defense.
Again, the NFL and military are not strangers. There take seemingly always been soldiers at the games to have part in the singing of the national anthem or in some other capacity. But it's relatively contempo that the NFL has been raking in big bucks to do it. Co-ordinate to NJ.com, the Department of Defense had "paid at least $6 million in taxpayer money" to the NFL. This study, which was published in May 2015, was based on regime records.
Next: How much, exactly, are we talking virtually? And which teams got a cutting?
How much money does the NFL receive?
- According to the records, the Section of Defense'due south coin was carved upwardly by 14 NFL teams.
The initial written report mentions at to the lowest degree $6 one thousand thousand between 2011 and 2014 being shoveled from the Department of Defense force to the NFL. The same report says sixteen different teams got a cut of the gain. Farther reporting revised the overall corporeality to $5.4 million carve up between 14 teams (that were verified), according to PBS. Of that $5.4 million, the bulk of it was spent past the National Guard, and the remaining amount by the Regular army and Air Force.
After this news broke, elected officials started to speak up. Sen. Jeff Fleck of Arizona, for case, chosen information technology an "egregious and unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars," PBS reports.
Adjacent: How those taxpayer dollars were put to employ during NFL games.
How it'southward spent: National canticle ceremonies
- The armed forces has been greasing the NFL's palms for pregame patriotism.
We don't accept a breakup of how, exactly, NFL teams are putting the Department of Defense money to use. But undoubtedly some of it goes toward pregame ceremonies, including the singing of the national canticle. It's not unusual, for example, for the field to exist nigh completely covered past a behemothic American flag held by military personnel. It's also not unusual for members of the armed forces to be singled out and honored before or during games, as a "salute to service."
Next: All of that, though, is relatively cheap compared to an Air Force flyover.
Air Force flyovers
- Seeing the Blue Angels wing over the stadium is exciting — and expensive.
We've as well become accustomed to seeing military jets fly over stadiums before games. Co-ordinate to the Washington Times, the military takes part in these flyovers roughly 1,000 times per year. And the costs can tally up to more than than $10,000 per hour. Only that'southward more than or less an gauge, and the costs can actually be much higher than that. In 1 case, four F-18s flew over Cowboys Stadium at the 2011 Super Bowl. The stadium has a roof, so fans had to encounter it on the big screen rather than having a direct line of sight. Simply it appears that single flyover could have cost the taxpayers as much as $450,000.
Adjacent: The coin also goes toward getting service members into the seats.
Tickets and saluting the soldiers
- Buying soldiers tickets and putting them on the Jumbotron comes at a cost.
While flyovers are going to eat up a huge amount of resources, getting service members to the games isn't cheap either. Again, we don't have exact numbers on this, just game tickets, premium seats, and skyboxes aren't complimentary. Almost people probable assumed the NFL was welcoming soldiers to the games — and not being paid to practise then.
I team, the New York Jets, received hundreds of thousands of dollars to include a segment chosen Hometown Heroes. The program gave soldiers and their families tickets and likewise put them on the Jumbotron. Information technology'due south a nice gesture, sure. But it'due south the fact that the team was being paid for it that didn't sit right with a lot of people.
Adjacent: Earlier you think it's simply the NFL, permit's take a look at the other leagues taking Section of Defence coin.
It's not just the NFL
- The Department of Defence also has contracts with every other major sports league.
Co-ordinate to SBNation, the biggest sports leagues in the United States have received more than $10 million from the Department of Defense for patriotic displays. That includes the NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS, and NBA. SBNation also notes the figure doesn't include NASCAR — perhaps America's most popular sport. Further reporting from The Washington Post found NASCAR was actually the biggest recipient of Department of Defense money. The stock car racing governing body received more than $1.5 1000000 in 2015 lonely.
Next: With millions of your tax dollars existence spent, what'southward the bottom line?
The bottom line: It's a recruiting tool
- Call back of it as a marketing stunt for both the NFL and war machine.
At the end of the solar day, it's well-nigh recruiting. The military is giving sports leagues money to annunciate. The military needs fresh recruits every twelvemonth, and information technology's putting money where the eyeballs are: sports. In 2016, more than 16 million people would lookout the boilerplate NFL game. That's a big audience. And a lot of those viewers are immature and gauging their career interests — a jackpot for military recruiters.
To be fair, the NFL did return some of the money it received from the armed forces after the public learned what was going on. Information technology'southward likewise not illegal or necessarily unethical for it to accept received coin in the outset place. But you should know looks can be deceiving — specially all of that camouflage.
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Source: https://www.sportscasting.com/amount-money-military-gives-nfl/
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