Patriotism at a Price: US Military Paid NFL Teams to 'Honor' Soldiers at Games

What better way to advertise military culture—and recruit teenagers—than by staging heartfelt salutes to “hometown heroes” at professional football games in front of thousands of fans?

That, apparently, is what Department of Defense officials thought when they shelled out at least $5.4 million of U.S. taxpayer’ money to 14 NFL teams between 2011 and 2014—to pay them to promote the military on and off the field.

The vast majority of this money was disbursed by the National Guard, journalists Christopher Baxter and Jonathan D. Salant of New Jersey Advance Media revealed in an article published Thursday.

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The New York Jets, for example, accepted at least $377,000 between 2011 and 2014 to stage public salutes to veterans. A formal “Statement of Work” agreement between the Jets and the New Jersey National Guard exposes some of the team’s commitments, made between 2012 and 2013, in exchange for money. The following items are quoted from the deal:

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