Paid patriotism payback — NFL to return taxpayers more than $700K

The NFL, which was criticized for its teams receiving profits for sponsored military tributes, will pay back $723,734 in taxpayers’ money, according to ESPN.com.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that the league would pay back the money for “paid patriotism” — acts of military recognition during games — that had been funneled from the armed forces budget to teams.

This is the right move by the league, but one that, even in admitting its own fault, makes the NFL look bad for profiting off these events in the first place. From 2012 to 2015, teams were found to have earned that total from 100 marketing agreements over that span, which included on-field flag ceremonies and tributes to welcome home veterans, based on an internal audit by accounting firm Deloitte & Touche.

U.S. Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain, who previously revealed that the Department of Defense had spent $5.4 million in contracts with 14 NFL teams from 2011 to 2014, received word of the payment in a letter on Wednesday. Goodell’s letter also indicated that the auditing process would be changed in the future to prevent this from happening again.

“In all the years I’ve spent rooting out egregious federal spending, the NFL is the first organization to perform due diligence, take responsibility and return misspent funds to the taxpayers,” Flake said. “The NFL’s response to this investigation sets a new standard and only strengthens its reputation as a supporter [of] our nation’s military service members and veterans.”

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm