title: NFL’S PHONY PATRIOTISM: US Defense Department Paid NFL $5.4 MILLION For On-Field Flag Appearances, Welcome Home Veteran Tributes
text: Every day, the NFL gives fans another reason to stop supporting them. Although the NFL agreed to refund a small portion of the money our Defense Department (US taxpayers) have paid them to show support for our military, it s the idea that Americans have been duped into believing it was something they did out of honor or reverence for our military. The NFL has reached a new low with their acceptance of players who are disrespecting our flag to promote Obama s race war, while disallowing the Dallas Cowboys to honor the 5 police officers slain in their hometown by a Black Lives Matter terrorist. Don t forget, they also looked away when Cleveland Brown s player, Isaiah Crowell posted an Instagram picture of a cop with his neck being slit open. The NFL never said a word. They never even acknowledged what some considered to be a terrorist type threat to our law enforcement. In May, 2016, the NFL announced that they would return more than $700,000 of taxpayers  money that was paid to teams for sponsored military tributes.After being criticized for  paid patriotism,  in which money came out of the armed forces budget for various measures of public recognition during games, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that the league would pay that money back.In a letter written to Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain on Wednesday, and disclosed on Thursday, Goodell said that   following an audited review of 100 marketing agreements from 2012 to 2015 by accounting firm Deloitte & Touche   teams were deemed to have received $723,734 for acts of sponsored patriotism. 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 said.  Americans deserve the ability to assume that tributes for our men and women in military uniform are genuine displays of national pride, which many are, rather than taxpayer-funded DOD marketing gimmicks.   PGLast year, Flake and McCain disclosed that the U.S. Department of Defense had spent $5.4 million in contracts with 14 NFL teams from 2011 to 2014. Some of those contracts disclosed that payment was for on-field flag ceremonies and tributes to welcome home veterans. One team, the Atlanta Falcons, had made more than $1 million from the department over those four seasons.The National Guard spent $6.7 million on contracts with NFL teams from 2013 to 2015. Via: ESPNThere has never been a better time to boycott the NFL, their merchandise and any of their sponsors. 