NFL teams receiving tax dollars

A new report released on Thursday shows the list of NFL teams that have received taxpayer money to the tune of $5.4 million.

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This is a time where the president and Congress are looking to cut spending and have actually imposed caps on military spending. So it might come as a bit of a surprise that the Department of Defense, aka the military, has spent $5.4 million in taxpayer money on NFL teams, according to a story by NJ.com. Most of it was spent by the National Guard and a total of 14 teams received money.

It hasn’t gone completely unnoticed. Recently, U.S. Senator Jeff Flake called out New Jersey specifically for the money their National Guard spent on the New York Jets. A total amount of $377,500 between 2011 and 2014. One of the things paid for was a home game segment that saluted the military and showed soldiers getting tickets to the game for their service. Flake tried to make the point that fans likely assumed the segments were real salutes by the team and not paid for with their money by the military.

The National Guard has defended the segments as good recruitment tools and the Jets have defended their part by saying they have plenty of other salutes to the military not paid for by the military. However, there are NFL teams not on the 14 team list and they still manage to have a variety of military-related salutes during games all year. I can vouch for that, having attended several Seattle Seahawks home games and seeing the military salutes and it’s more probable than not that other teams not on the list do the same.

The full list of teams that received money from the NFL in the last four years is as follows:

– Atlanta Falcons

– Baltimore Ravens

– Buffalo Bills

– Cincinnati Bengals

– Cleveland Browns

– Dallas Cowboys

– Green Bay Packers

– Indianapolis Colts

– Kansas City Chiefs

– Miami Dolphins

– Minnesota Vikings

– New York Jets

– Pittsburgh Steelers

– St. Louis Rams

The amounts given to the teams can be found on NJ.com, but most of the teams listed received the money over a four-year period, i.e. one amount in 2011, another amount in 2012 and so on. Only a few teams received the money only once. The Rams, Steelers and Dolphins received the smallest total amounts.

The questions are why is such a large amount of money being spent on what essentially amounts to a recruitment tool? Further, if the rest of the NFL teams are consistently organizing salutes to the military without receiving taxpayer dollars, why are these teams doing it? The NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry and is tax exempt besides. It’s a legitimate question as to why this money is being spent.

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