Sen. John McCain said Thursday that he was “shocked” that NFL teams made a profit to honor American troops.
The Arizona Republican co-sponsored a Senate amendment blocking the Defense Department from spending taxpayer dollars honoring the military at sporting events. Fellow Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake and Connecticut Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal also sponsored the amendment, The Hill reported Thursday.
“I and so many other Americans were shocked and disappointed to learn that several NFL teams weren’t sponsoring these activities out of the goodness of their own hearts, but were doing it to make an extra buck,” MaCain said. “Taking money from the American taxpayers in exchange for honoring American troops.”
The three senators said in a statement, “We can’t afford to give scarce defense dollars to wealthy sports teams, and fans should have confidence that their hometown heroes are being honored on Sundays because of their honorable military service, not as an NFL marketing ploy.’
In a statement provided to The Hill, The NFL responded to the senators’ remarks. “This amendment paints a completely distorted picture of the relationship between NFL teams and our military,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.
“We agree that no one should be paid to honor our troops,” he said. “Military spending on recruiting efforts should not be confused with programs that support our nation’s active military and veterans. The NFL’s long history of honoring and supporting our troops will continue because it is the right thing to do.”
Twitter users expressed their outrage and cynicism about paying the NFL to honor American troops.
It’s a shame taxpayers have to subsidize @nfl to elicit some patriotism and honor for our heroes. https://t.co/7vG0dHs036
— Travis N. Taylor (@TravisNTaylorLA) June 4, 2015
“Patriotism should not be commodified. It should not be artificially ceremonialized.” http://t.co/9bvFqgFXpM — Charles Pierce on the @nfl
— Ian Fitzpatrick (@ianfitzpatrick) May 27, 2015
I guess @NFL lobby failed to give the right Senator a bribe to keep the patriotism profits flowing. Pardon me, I mean campaign contribution
— Elliott (@theaveragevoter) June 5, 2015
As Congress cuts taxpayer funded giveaways to the @nfl and @NASCAR interested to see how much is genuine and how much was profit patriotism.
— Col. Morris Davis (@ColMorrisDavis) June 5, 2015
.@nfl gets in on their own pay to play deal, was @HillaryClinton involved too? http://t.co/9DPIs8YTYB #WhatILearnedToday
— Hadda Nuff (@youseenmikehunt) June 5, 2015
Wow @nfl You have to be paid to be patriotic. That’s low. http://t.co/CYTVZqZa84
— OMRebelNation.com (@OMRebelNation) June 5, 2015
The NFL has always been a for-profit enterprise, so why would anyone be shocked that everything it does is to make money?
So the @nfl takes money to promote the troops during games…they don’t do it out of patriotism. I did not know that. http://t.co/1sey2CoPWR
— Mrs_Raven (@BexaRaven) May 25, 2015
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