Paid Patriotism
Simple expressions of patriotism—the national anthem, “God Bless America,” or the occasional ceremony celebrating a veteran’s return, to name a few—have a strong foothold in sports. But, as we learned in a November 4 report from Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake, patriotism is often funded by the Department of Defense. The government agency paid the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, and Major League Soccer teams a combined $6.8 million over the last four years for so-called “paid patriotism.” Included were tickets for servicemen and women and various ceremonies honoring troops, as well as especially overblown renditions of the national anthem. Although many teams did not accept payment for patriotism, 72 did.
It shouldn’t really be a surprise that sports leagues, which are massive corporations, are not genuine in their patriotism. Corporations are supposed to make money, and there is less money in sincerity. Nothing about seeking profits is inherently evil, or even bad; corporations are just not charities and therefore cannot really be expected to take initiative on social responsibility. In the interest of public relations, however, sports leagues do their best imitation, paying lip service to all sorts of worthy causes in a way that bolsters their image and their bank accounts.
The NFL in particular has done a poor job of feigning genuine interest in, among other things, player safety, domestic violence prevention, and breast cancer awareness. The league agreed this year to pay up to $5 million to each of the thousands of former players who sued for compensation for chronic head trauma. Yet, Commissioner Roger Goodell has repeatedly proposed the idea of a longer season, which means, in theory, more hits and more head trauma. Last season, the league launched an anti-domestic violence ad campaign—a panicked reaction to the backlash Goodell received after he issued running back Ray Rice, who assaulted his fiancée in an elevator, only a two-day suspension. This year, with the Rice case no longer on people’s minds, the ads are gone, and Greg Hardy, who was convicted of assaulting and threatening to kill his girlfriend in 2014, still plays for the Dallas Cowboys. The breast cancer campaign is front and center in NFL games every October, when players wear pink accessories and the league sells pink gear. But, in addition to distracting from the league’s domestic violence failures, the pink campaign is a significant moneymaker for the league, with only 11.25 percent of sales revenue going to the American Cancer Society. In order to preserve the annual visibility of the campaign and maximize its benefit to the league, Goodell has fined players for wearing pink at any time besides the designated month of October. More than half of the revenues from the sale of breast cancer awareness items sold by the NFL go back into its pocket.
Several sports teams operate military appreciation campaigns in the same vein as the breast cancer campaign, wearing alternate camouflage uniforms, which are somehow supposed to support the troops while also generating merchandise revenue from fashion-conscious fans. The paid patriotism, though, was different. Unlike the aforementioned campaigns, paid patriotism was concealed as even being a campaign. Few people really considered that a moving ceremony honoring a veteran, for example, might involve a transaction. The armed forces produce significant, overt advertising and recruiting efforts, which no league should be expected to support for free. But, the line is completely blurred when clapping for a soldier who throws out a first pitch is seen the same way as an ad.
Of course, paid patriotism fits right into an American culture of polite disconnect from the armed forces. We Americans love to say we support the troops. We might even feel anger toward the Department of Veterans Affairs for failing to adequately give medical care to veterans. However, most Americans have gradually drifted away from actual engagement with the wars overseas and the needs of veterans back home. In 1975, 70 percent of members of Congress had served in the military. In 2013, just 20 percent had. In 2011, more than three quarters of people over the age of 50 had a veteran as an immediate family member. Just a third of 18 to 29-year-olds did.
Some disengagement is inevitable. We have not fought a war on American soil since 1865. We have not had a draft since Vietnam. However, we still have almost one and half million Americans serving in the military, with almost 22 million more veterans. About 20 percent of those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan have PTSD. Unemployment among recent veterans has remained considerably higher than among non-veterans, whether in the recession or slow recovery. One can criticize our massive military spending or propensity to worsen Middle Eastern affairs. One can even be a pacifist, but no one can deny that our servicemen and women make huge sacrifices. We need them, and they certainly need us. That’s why it’s disappointing to see taxpayer dollars wasted on something that should have been free, especially considering that sports leagues would probably be happy to act patriotic for the public image benefit alone. What is more disappointing, though, is to have basic expressions of support for our troops delegitimized.