With the Pentagon claiming its budget, the largest military budget in the history of humankind, is woefully undersized, new scrutiny is being brought by Rep. Betty McCollum (D – MN) over the massive amounts the military is spending on sporting events.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent each year sponsoring everything from baseball and basketball broadcasts to professional wrestling, fishing events and especially NASCAR. Indeed, the National Guard spent $20 million in 2010 just to sponsor Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The Army spent nearly $8 million sponsoring another racing team, while another $16 million was spent sponsoring the “Outdoor College Fishing Tour.” The military spends so much on professional wrestling that the WWE has its own webpage on the National Guard’s website, and vice versa.
Officials argue that the money is a “recruiting expense,” but Rep. McCollum cited in particular the Air Guard 400, a racing event held in September at a cost of $645,000 in sponsorship fees. Though the military insisted the event was a success because it led to 439 “lead information” collections, they also conceded that only six “qualified leads” were among them, and not a single one enlisted.
Rep. McCollum has previously sought to require the military to obtain Congressional approval for sponsorships beyond $250,000, which was shouted down in a voice vote. With spending increasingly at issue (McCollum noted that the massive sponsorships continued even after Congress defunded a program for homeless vets), it is likely to continue to be a bone of contention going forward.
It goes beyond this as well. I watched the Charlotte race on Memorial Day, and it looked like there was a whole battalion of troops out on the track. Someone was paying for that, but don't know if it came out of this 'recruiting' budget. Also, virtually every NASCAR race starts with a flyover of military jets. And those usually cost in the $10,000 to $20,000 dollar an hour range to put in the air.
When you see those jets fly over, stop and realize that you just saw somewhere in the range of $50,000 to $100,000 of your tax money flying by over your head. Since a teacher costs a bit over $40,000 a year in salary, every time you see a flyover, you are probably seeing the money to pay for a teacher being wasted.
And Americans are a little less educated and a little more ignorant for it. (To say nothing of ruptured eardrums.)
If the military is going to sponsor sports teams and events, it needs to sponsor ALL sports teams and events equally. If the Army spends $100 on Jeff Gordon, it needs to spend $100 on Danica Patrick and $100 on Tiger Woods and $100 on Kim Clijsters. We don't need to just see the US Army US Open, we need to also see the US Army Special Olympics.
(I pick on the Army in this, but my comments apply to all services across the board.)
Let's see…$645,000 for sponsoring the race…439 "lead information" collections (I love mil-talk) with ONLY 6 "qualified leads" (and that with the lower, almost non-existent entrance standards), and NO, ZERO, NADA, ZILCH, ZIP enlistments. If my business plan read like that I'd have been thrown out of business school.
As for the preponderance of the money spent on nascar and wrestling – that is the target audience. You don't normally see military ads during Wimbledon or the US Open golf tourneys – those people don't usually consider the military as a necessary option. But Bubba and Bubbette go to nascar races and pay to watch WWE on the TV and believe what FOX tells them in the evening. The war fodder usually come from the less enabled in society and the military is aware of where it's buttered bread comes from.