PAID PATRIOTISM

Finding out whether NFL players are to stand on the field for the National Anthem is confusing as there seem to be two manuals with one of them not available.  The bottom line for me, however, is a notice by NFL management repeated on Snopes that:

The NFL will not discipline those teams and players who refused to be on the field for the playing of the national anthem before games Sunday, league spokesman Joe Lockhart said.

“There will be no discipline handed down this week,” Lockhart, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications and public affairs, said in a conference call with reporters.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans were not on the field for the anthem*.

The sad thing about this is that the original message of  Colin Kaepernick emphasizing police brutality has been lost in the ensuing discussions.

There is also the matter of whether the NFL has been paid to have the players on the field and standing for the National anthem.:

The Department of Defense and the National Guard paid the NFL a combined $12.3 million between 2011 and 2015. So the next time you think NFL players should stay out of politics, just remember that politics injected itself into the NFL first, and these players never got a say in being used as army recruitment tools."*

Republican Sens. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and John McCain (R-AZ) released a statement on an investigation into DOD payments for "patriotic tributes" between 2011 and 2014.* 

Their statement in part said:

"clearly show that DOD paid for patriotic tributes at professional football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer games. These paid tributes included on-field color guard, enlistment and reenlistment ceremonies, performances of the national anthem, full-field flag details, ceremonial first pitches͕ and puck drops. The National Guard paid teams for the “opportunity” to sponsor military appreciation nights and to recognize its birthday. It paid the Buffalo Bills to sponsor its Salute to the Service game. DOD even paid teams for the “opportunity” to perform surprise welcome home promotions for troops returning from deployments and to recognize wounded warriors. While well intentioned, we wonder just how many of these displays included a disclaimer that these events were in fact sponsored by the DOD at taxpayer expense. Even with that disclosure, it is hard to understand how a team accepting taxpayer funds to sponsor a military appreciation game, or to recognize wounded warriors or returning troops, can be construed as anything other than paid patriotism." * 

There also is the news that the NFL is reimburse the Federal government $724,000 for patriotic events.***

* http://www.snopes.com/must-nfl-players-stand/?utm_campaign=thursday_update&utm_medium=manual&bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiAiZGI1YjBlM2MtNDY3Ny00ZjEzLWJlMTYtYTkxM2MyYWJlNjg4In0%3D&utm_source=bme

** http://www.kvue.com/news/local/verify/verify-did-the-us-govt-pay-nfl-players-to-stand-for-natl-anthem/478658938
*** http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/19/news/companies/nfl-paid-patriotism/index.html