The scandal isn’t the teams accepting the money. The scandal is the Armed Services offering it.Publicly funded stadia is a scam. The taxpayers get zero from it.
I would think that, for the military, a paid advertisement is a paid advertisement … if this is more effective than a commercial, then it is good use of their money. However, I do think it is a bit two-faced of the sports leagues to say they support the military, but only do so if they are paid to do so.
hink what you want of him as a coach, but kudos to Belichick for not kissing the NFL’s greedy a$$ regarding these phoney promotions.
He does more to support or troops and veterans than the majority of the NFL corporate hypocrites. He sported a simple ribbon and nada mas. Didn’t need to. His actions speak much louder than a camo-cap !
Taxpayers don’t ALWAYS get to vote on stadiums or arenas. An emergency session of the State Legislature funded Safeco Field in Seattle (AFTER taxpayers there voted down a new ballpark by a wide margin) while the City Council has signed off an an as-yet-to-be-built arena in Seattle.
Owners will bypass the taxpayers whenever they can because it’s easier to line the pockets of elected officials for the same purpose. Read the intro to Jim Bouton’s “Foul Ball” (not “Ball Four”) for a broader take. That whole book is about politics and ballparks and it does not turn out well for Bouton, who was actually trying to SAVE an old ballpark without taxpayer money.
Heck, the Atlanta area is currently in the process of building both a new football stadium (estimated cost: $1.4 billion) to replace the Georgia Dome and a new baseball stadium (estimated cost: $622 million) to replace Turner Field, for reasons that have never been clearly justified. (Except, perhaps, for the new football stadium, which is rationalized by, “Atlanta will never host another Super Bowl unless we build a new stadium.”) It’s not like the existing stadiums are not quite adequate for their ostensible purposes.
Remember that during the Viet Nam war, the ‘military support’ included exactly one NFL player going to Viet Nam, Rocky Blier.
Every other NFL player either got medical deferments or were provided entry into the national guard. At one point, virtually the entire roster of the Baltimore Colts was in the same NG unit.
So when we discuss how patriotic the NFL is, we are talking about flag waving and other PR stuff only.
Alabama_Al While baseball give some flexibility as to size, football has rigid dimensions – maybe a bit larger if one includes the kind actually played with the feet. The rest is strictly for fans who feel they should freeze for the team (whatever good that does).
timbob2313There is precedent. In WW-II, after stars like Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart enlisted, Hollywood volunteered the Hal Roach studios to house a special unit to provide training films (and to protect key persons from combat). Military rank paralleled studio hierarchy – see “Winged Victory” credits for documentation..Once those involved found about the scheme, it became tradition at Fort Roach to volunteer for overseas duty – cameramen became combat photographers, special effect modelers made briefing models of targets, actors did morale boosting shows near front lines (on the British side, Vera Lynn did two shows close enough that artillery fire was a distraction). On the other hand, Capt. Ronald Reagan spent the war between Fort Roach and his Bel Aire mansion, and I can’t find he even did a War Bond tour – after all, Carole Lombard was killed returning from one. With no evidence other than timing, I long suspected Gable’s escape from gunnery instructor (he was a national skeet champion) to the top turret on bombing missions was the threat to expose Fort Roach.
Darsan54 Premium Member over 8 years ago
The latter is a tax paid to billionaires and the former a payment to propaganda services.
Liverlips McCracken Premium Member over 8 years ago
The scandal isn’t the teams accepting the money. The scandal is the Armed Services offering it.Publicly funded stadia is a scam. The taxpayers get zero from it.
Lakegal over 8 years ago
I see it as a recruitment tool… What’s the problem with that?
Carl Premium Member over 8 years ago
Generally its not the taxpayers but office holders sneaking the money through. Stadium funding is always surreptitious.
archipelago Premium Member over 8 years ago
I would think that, for the military, a paid advertisement is a paid advertisement … if this is more effective than a commercial, then it is good use of their money. However, I do think it is a bit two-faced of the sports leagues to say they support the military, but only do so if they are paid to do so.
Linguist over 8 years ago
hink what you want of him as a coach, but kudos to Belichick for not kissing the NFL’s greedy a$$ regarding these phoney promotions.
He does more to support or troops and veterans than the majority of the NFL corporate hypocrites. He sported a simple ribbon and nada mas. Didn’t need to. His actions speak much louder than a camo-cap !
Guilty Bystander over 8 years ago
Taxpayers don’t ALWAYS get to vote on stadiums or arenas. An emergency session of the State Legislature funded Safeco Field in Seattle (AFTER taxpayers there voted down a new ballpark by a wide margin) while the City Council has signed off an an as-yet-to-be-built arena in Seattle.
Owners will bypass the taxpayers whenever they can because it’s easier to line the pockets of elected officials for the same purpose. Read the intro to Jim Bouton’s “Foul Ball” (not “Ball Four”) for a broader take. That whole book is about politics and ballparks and it does not turn out well for Bouton, who was actually trying to SAVE an old ballpark without taxpayer money.
Alabama Al over 8 years ago
Heck, the Atlanta area is currently in the process of building both a new football stadium (estimated cost: $1.4 billion) to replace the Georgia Dome and a new baseball stadium (estimated cost: $622 million) to replace Turner Field, for reasons that have never been clearly justified. (Except, perhaps, for the new football stadium, which is rationalized by, “Atlanta will never host another Super Bowl unless we build a new stadium.”) It’s not like the existing stadiums are not quite adequate for their ostensible purposes.
braindead Premium Member over 8 years ago
Remember that during the Viet Nam war, the ‘military support’ included exactly one NFL player going to Viet Nam, Rocky Blier.
Every other NFL player either got medical deferments or were provided entry into the national guard. At one point, virtually the entire roster of the Baltimore Colts was in the same NG unit.
So when we discuss how patriotic the NFL is, we are talking about flag waving and other PR stuff only.
braindead Premium Member over 8 years ago
I’d like to see legislation preventing any city official from entry into any NFL luxury box and see how many stadiums get built with taxpayer funds.
(The ban would last 10 years after last day in office)
hippogriff over 8 years ago
Alabama_Al While baseball give some flexibility as to size, football has rigid dimensions – maybe a bit larger if one includes the kind actually played with the feet. The rest is strictly for fans who feel they should freeze for the team (whatever good that does).
hippogriff over 8 years ago
timbob2313There is precedent. In WW-II, after stars like Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart enlisted, Hollywood volunteered the Hal Roach studios to house a special unit to provide training films (and to protect key persons from combat). Military rank paralleled studio hierarchy – see “Winged Victory” credits for documentation..Once those involved found about the scheme, it became tradition at Fort Roach to volunteer for overseas duty – cameramen became combat photographers, special effect modelers made briefing models of targets, actors did morale boosting shows near front lines (on the British side, Vera Lynn did two shows close enough that artillery fire was a distraction). On the other hand, Capt. Ronald Reagan spent the war between Fort Roach and his Bel Aire mansion, and I can’t find he even did a War Bond tour – after all, Carole Lombard was killed returning from one. With no evidence other than timing, I long suspected Gable’s escape from gunnery instructor (he was a national skeet champion) to the top turret on bombing missions was the threat to expose Fort Roach.