“[The Defense Department] has been paying professional sports teams in the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Soccer (MLS) to honor American soldiers at sporting events,” a press release issued alongside the report on Wednesday said.
The report shows that, despite denials by the different sporting organizations, 72 of the 122 contracts amounting to $6.8 million contained some form of “paid patriotism.”
“Examples of these activities include $49,000 to the Milwaukee Brewers for the Wisconsin Army National Guard to sponsor each Sunday performance of “God Bless America” during home games with announcement and logo recognition on the video board,” the release explained.
McCain said the revelations should shock US citizens about the truth behind events to honor their military men and women.
“Americans across the country should be deeply disappointed that many of the ceremonies honoring troops at professional sporting events are not actually being conducted out of a sense of patriotism,” McCain stated in the release.
Instead, millions of taxpayer dollars were flowing from the Defense Department to wealthy professional sports franchises, he concluded.
