If you’ve been to a Braves, Falcons, or Hawks game recently, you’ve probably seen it. Local veterans wave to the fans from the field during a break in the action. A handful of National Guard members sing the national anthem. “Hometown Heroes Nights” feature montages and camera shots of smiling and waving men and women in uniform. They’re seemingly ingrained in the gameday experience at this point – the announcer says some kind words, the uniformed soldiers wave, and the entire crowd stands and applauds. And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact it’s the exact sort of thing that professional sports franchises should be doing as they rack up record setting revenues and beg for taxpayer funded stadiums.
The problem though, as uncovered by an oversight report released last week by U.S. Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake, (both R’s from Arizona) is that these patriotic displays often don’t come from the heart. In fact, in Atlanta’s case, they’re usually paid promotions straight from the U.S. military into the pockets of those same poor sports franchises that need to sell $10 beers and $8 hot dogs just to stay afloat in an era when teams are making more money than ever before.
According to McCain and Flakes’ report, different branches of the military have spent over $50 million in sports related marketing since 2012. That’s not necessarily a bad thing on its own – the military does need to advertise to keep its numbers stable, and sporting events are an appropriate venue for their target market. The questionable marketing are the contracts made directly with pro sports teams, nearly $10 million total, and the Braves, Falcons, and Hawks are among the biggest receivers of that money.
Since 2012 the Falcons received $879,000 from the military in exchange for a variety of ‘support the troops’ type displays. That number was tops in the NFL, with the New England Patriots, (ironic, eh?) coming in at number two with $700,000. The Braves made $450,000 off their military marketing, far and away the most in Major League Baseball, and the Hawks and their $230,000 finished off the hat trick, leading the NBA in money taken in exchange for the chore of showing support for our military.
Again, the problem is not that the military is advertising at football games. The military has to advertise to help its recruiting efforts, and sporting events provide a great opportunity to reach their prime demographic, (late teens-early 20’s white males). Georgia has one of the highest enlistment rates in the nation, so having its sports teams listed in this report is not surprising. What is disappointing is that our sports teams, all owned by billionaires or groups of millionaires, and all three of which are receiving taxpayer money to build or to renovate their stadiums, are doing things like charging hundreds of thousands of dollars for things like having ‘an opportunity for 80 GAARNG soldiers to hold a large American flag on the field during a military appreciation game‘, or recognizing a member of the Georgia National Guards birthday on the scoreboard.
The NFL has since barred teams from taking money in exchange for ‘patriotic displays’. The MLB and NBA are sure to follow suit. It’s a shame that the only reason Atlanta teams are stopping is because of media attention to the money they were receiving. Military advertising is one thing, but only honoring your hometown heroes because you’re getting paid to? That’s a shame. Pretending to have done it out of gratitude and respect for your troops when in fact you were doing it for a big check? That’s downright sickening.
Atlanta’s pro sports teams do a lot of good for their communities, but this is one case where they need to take a step back and realize that while trying to make money is perfectly fine, there is a line somewhere, and it is probably far short of shilling out our troops for a few hundred thousand dollars.
